Retribution for the Damned
by DigiSim
Summary: Updated after all this time. Man I'm slow. As promised, Ranma is in this chapter. Read and enjoy. Review too, please.
1. Prologue

Retribution for the Damned

by DigiSim

------------

Prologue

------------

Kasumi Tendo was pissed.

This fact in and of itself would generally seem to be an impossibility. Usually it is for the simple truth that Kasumi is the sweetest and kindest person on the planet. That may be true in some cases; however it didn't apply just now. She had been running for her life for a while now. Kasumi was tired, she was edgy and she was running out of ammo.

_Not_ a good combination.

------------

Many years ago, when Kasumi still lived in Nerima, a terrible incident occurred. Usually it's the death of Kimiko Tendo that alters the rest of the Tendo family. That event in her life had already come and gone. By the time the eldest Tendo daughter was 12, Soun Tendo had made a big mistake. He followed the advice of his middle child, a precocious young cutie named Nabiki who had a knack for numbers. The advice wasn't _bad_, said advice being to invest in a pharmaceutical company; it was the _people_ who ran the company that caused the trouble.

Kasumi's father, the head of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, was first and foremost, not all there. He had done many disreputable things while training. Lying, cheating and stealing had been done _'in the name of the Art.'_ His best skills were quietly breaking into places he wasn't supposed to be, a talent he later passed on to his daughters but not on purpose. Somehow, the skill shifted to them. Too bad for him that he was usually discovered, most times while going through some woman's panty drawer.

During his training trip, Soun made the wrong people mad. His friend, a stocky man by the name of Genma Saotome, and he had entered a town with their 'Dread Master' and through brow beating, the shriveled up little pervert threatened them into raiding some houses. Soun and Genma however did not like the way the town _'felt.'_ The old pervert just thought they were slacking off, but kept the idea to himself that he felt they were right about the town. It was like an open sore in the earth, one that never fully healed or perhaps was enforced to fester and rot. There were creeping terrors in that vile little village that haunted the three men's dreams and waking hours for years to come. Soun had snuck into one particular house and discovered a safe that was filled with information that would have given a lesser man a heart attack on the spot. The horrid and graphic details were scarred on his psyche for life but the effects weren't revealed till the death of his wife years later whenever his emotions ran rampant.

Without knowing it, he had painted a huge target on himself and his family just by reading those documents. They all described secret plots or medical descriptions of the abominations of nature that were residing there and in other towns worldwide. He never made the connection to the secret organization and the pharmaceutical company until it was too late. By then, the shock troops of the Umbrella Corporation razed the dojo to the ground and Soun, along with Akane and Nabiki, was never heard from again.

It was Genma that had found Kasumi at the ruins of her home. He had planned to take his son on a ten year training trip to get him away from the softening influence of his mother. He tried to convince her that it had to be done and had even written up a seppuku pledge to prove it. She 'convinced' him _[she beat the ever-loving snot out of him]_ that he was mistaken. He quickly saw the wisdom of her logic, in other words, he crumbled like a sandcastle in a tsunami. She did let him go out with Ranma every other year but made him promise to come back so he would be trained by her. Since this was a Nodoka year, Genma didn't really have anything to do. He had to admit that his wife's plan was sound though. He had never been more fit in his life thanks to a diet she made him adhere to and had a full head of hair along with a newly grown beard and moustache. Someday they might even decide to have more children so Ranma wouldn't grow up alone.

Genma was particularly bored that day so he had decided to go visit his old training partner. He also had to tell Soun that the plan for uniting the schools _[Nodoka found out about the engagement and beat him worse than when he showed her the seppuku pledge]_ needed to be changed. When he got to the dojo, the unnatural quiet of the neighborhood put him on edge. As he walked through the gate, the sight of smoldering rubble took him by surprise. Kneeling where the step to the front door would have been was a young girl with her back to him. She had a canvas sack dropped unceremoniously next to her and was obviously crying. He could see there was an unbroken bottle of soy sauce tipped over on its side and resting against her ankle but that was the farthest thing from her mind at the moment. She had been shopping for groceries and had come home to discover her family and home gone. Without prompting, he knelt down next to her and gathered her in his arms. She almost ran off screaming until she saw it was her Uncle Genma, though he was a little hairier than she remembered, and she started sobbing into his chest.

Genma took Kasumi back to his home, carrying her for most of the way because she cried herself to sleep. He had his suspicions on what had happened being connected to that dead town. The only reason he or his family weren't targeted was due to the fact that Soun was the one caught on a security camera going through the safe. Nodoka of course needed no convincing to let Kasumi stay with them, especially after what Genma told her about what had happened at what once was the Tendo home. As time went on, Kasumi adjusted to life with the Saotomes. She even got training from the both of them, just like Ranma. Whenever it was a Genma year, both she and Ranma would head out and train. During one such trip, the both of them met up with one Ukyo Kuonji, Okonomiyaki Martial Artist in training. She and her father had set up shop near the American Army base in Nagasaki and were doing quite well for themselves.

It took Ranma a while to realize that this girl Ukyo was his childhood friend Ucchan. Back when they first met, he had thought she was a he. They had almost become engaged back then but Genma didn't go along with it. He had to wonder what type of man would sell his daughter's future for just a simple yatai. Though nothing came of Kuonji-sans attempt, a friendship was started that would last a lifetime. The three wanderers were grateful to see the Kuonjis for the simple reason being, they were starving. Because of their connections with the base personnel, Kuonji-san and his daughter were able to get the trio access so they could train. Besides hand to hand combat, they also gained weapons training. Ranma and Kasumi were both quite skilled with the Glock 9mm as well as rifle style weapons, such as the AK-47. Of course, they needed practice to hit the targets right, but they were both quick studies. Even Genma took to the training, proving himself to be adept as well.

While at the base, Genma met a man named Trent. He was a mysterious sort, but Genma felt he could trust him. When he wasn't training with Kasumi, Ranma or both of them, he spent what time he could with Trent. It was like Soun had come back in a way, in the form of this strange man.

One night, while Genma and Trent were at the Officer's Club swapping stories, Ranma and Kasumi were in their on base home swapping spit. The two had grown close over the three years that Kasumi had spent with the Saotomes. The fact that Kasumi was fifteen and Ranma twelve didn't really bother them in the least. Hormones will be hormones. Kasumi and Ranma had been each other's First Kiss back when Ranma turned ten. Over time, they experimented with each other but never got farther than topless groping or fondling each others privates with their pants and underwear down around their knees. There was one night that Kasumi was filled with a surge of boldness and suckled Ranma's manhood till he ejaculated in her mouth. The reason they never removed their pants and underwear completely was in case they would get caught. It made oral sex a little difficult but fun nonetheless. It was a needless precaution however since they never did get caught. That night, with Genma and Trent gone, Kasumi and Ranma gave up their virginity to each other totally and willingly.

The two lay nude on the couch in each other's arms, kissing with passion, as if each kiss would be their last. Ranma's prick was aching and stiff, the constant rubbing against Kasumi's hot and shaved bare mound nearly drove him over the edge as their movement grew more heated. Soon, Kasumi spread her legs under him and guided him to her soaking entrance. Their gasp of pleasure as the head of Ranma's young cock slid between Kasumi's labia was like a rifle shot in the otherwise quiet house. The only things of Ranmas that had entered her down there before were usually his questing fingers or his hungry tongue. As he slid in deeper, he encountered a barrier. He knew it was her hymen thanks to his mother teaching him the things his father would not. Gazing into Kasumi's eyes, he silently asked her if she was ready for him. With a little fear in her own, she answered back that she was.

With a quick thrust, he broke through all the way till their pubic areas were mashed together. If their earlier gasp was like a rifle shot, Kasumis cry of pain was like a hand grenade going off. After some reassuring kisses from both parties, the two got into an easy sliding rhythm that brought them both over the edge quickly. As Ranmas semen splattered against Kasumis vaginal walls, it triggered an explosive orgasm deep in her soul. While her orgasm continued, the walls of her vagina massaged and milked Ranmas shaft which triggered an explosion of soul light that nearly made him faint. After resting for a few minutes, the young lovers resumed their activities. Half an hour later, Ranma had his second orgasm of the night and Kasumi had her ninth. When they finished resting a while more, the two got off the couch and shared a shower that turned into Ranma's third and fourth as well as Kasumi's fourteenth soul light explosion that night.

When Genma and Trent returned later that night, they never suspected what had happened. Unfortunately, the couch would never be the same again.

------------

Shaking off the memories for the moment, Kasumi spotted a door up ahead. "Thank God," she muttered as she ran towards it. Once on the other side, she slammed it closed and locked it. Hearing her pursuers banging ineffectually against it on the other side gave her a sense of relief. Pretty soon, she heard them shuffle off and she let out a sigh. Grateful that the door was made of solid steel, she turned around to check out where she was. It was a warehouse of some sort. Down a very short flight of metal steps was an eighteen wheeler's cargo hauler. Off to her direct left was a cement walkway that ended in another flight of stairs, these went up however. There was also what appeared to be a sort of office up there. As she took one step forward to check out the trailer, she heard a scream of fright.

"D-don't come any closer! I'm warning you!"

Kasumi was surprised to see a man brandishing an iron bar at her. "Relax sir, I'm a human." The man sagged visibly and nearly dropped the bar. "Oh thank God. I thought you were one of them. What is going on in this town?"

"That's a little complicated. By the way, I'm Kasumi. Kasumi Tendo. Who are you?" Straightening up, the man replied, "I'm George. George Romero. My family and I were driving through town when some maniac jumped out in front of our car. I wasn't able to stop in time and I hit him. Cracked the damn windshield and everything. My wife would have called for an ambulance but there were no payphones nearby and our cell phones don't seem to work here. While we were arguing about who we should try to call, the guy I hit attacked one of my kids. They both got out of the car to see him and he grabbed Melissa by the throat and he…_Oh God!_"

Kasumi watched as George bent over an open barrel and vomited. She guessed that the guy he hit must have done something terrible to his daughter to warrant this reaction, even if it is just from a memory. "George, are you alright?"

"Am I _alright?!?_ What kind of stupid question _is_ that? Of _course_ I'm not alright! I saw some freak _EAT MY DAUGHTER'S FACE!!!_ He, he pulled her down to him and bit into her forehead and ri-ripped her face off with his teeth! It happened so damn fast, we couldn't _do_ anything. When my wife and I finally unfroze, it was too late. I beat that bastard with the tire iron I keep in the trunk but he just wouldn't stop moving. I had to cave in his skull for him to stop. Luckily, I kicked him off of Mel before I started. If I had been paying attention, Annie would have survived at least."

With a look of horror on her face, Kasumi asked him what had happened to Annie. He told her that another sicko came out of nowhere and grabbed his other daughter. His wife was quick enough to wrest her away from the creep but grabbed her. He then bit her neck and chewed. George was too late to save his wife Annie, but he and his other daughter Jennifer got away. He went on to tell her about how the two of them tried to get out of town. The car was almost out of gas. It wouldn't make it out of town, let alone the next five blocks. As they were walking away, a semi tanker drove by and sideswiped the car, turning it into a mangled wreck. George went on to tell Kasumi how he and Jennifer got separated briefly and when he found her again, she had become another victim. He wrapped up his story by telling her that he had found this warehouse and decided to hide in the trailer till he felt like leaving.

"It's like everybody in town has gone insane. They're all cannibals or something. What is going on? And why do they look like they're rotting?" Kasumi told him of the T-Virus and how it turned people into flesh-eating zombies. "_Zombies?_ Do you _really_ expect me to believe that? This isn't some horror movie, this is real life. Look, if you're not going to help me then just leave me alone." George then turned around and ran to the back of the trailer. He climbed in and shut the doors behind himself, locking them from the inside. Kasumi just sighed and headed back up the metal stairs. She would check out the area a little later for any supplies that might be lying around. She then went to the office, hoping that she could get a little rest and maybe find some ammo as well. For some reason, ever since this whole mess started, handgun, shotgun and rifle ammo was a little easier to come by sometimes. Even normal and strange rounds for grenade launchers could be found. She didn't understand it, but she wasn't complaining. As Kasumi sat in the office chair, her mind wandered back to her past, and what lead her to where she currently was in her life.

------------

"_America__?_ What do you mean we're moving to America?"

Nodoka Saotome, wife and mother of Genma and Ranma Saotome respectively, was confused. Her husband had just dropped a bombshell on the family by casually mentioning a move to another country. It was obvious by everybody's attitude around the dinner table that this would be no ordinary meal. Kasumi had just blurted out the question that was on Nodoka's, and most likely Ranma's, mind. She turned her gaze to her husband, patiently awaiting his answer.

"As you know Kasumi, I've been in contact with Trent ever since our trip to Nagasaki. He's the one that convinced me that a move would be good. I'm thinking of your and Ranma's future. From what he tells me, there are more opportunities in America when it comes to either jobs or schooling. Here in Japan, going to college won't automatically guarantee you a good job. I've finally learned that the sexist views of Japanese society are just plain wrong. After all the years of training you and Ranma have gone through, do you want to just throw it all away by being stuck in some dead-end job as an O.L.?" Kasumi had to admit that he had a point. Nodoka and Ranma also found they felt he was right. Ranma, however, was curious about something.

"Hey Pop, what about our training? I thought Kasumi and I had farther to go. What about our trips?" Genma turned to his son and said, "I had been meaning to talk to the two of you about that actually. I feel that you and Kasumi have progressed far beyond my expectations and faster than I thought possible. I had decided that we would have gone to China to continue training but the remarkable skill you two have shown lately makes it unnecessary. When Trent called me a few weeks ago, he told me of a job in law enforcement in some place called Chicago. Since the gun laws are less strict in America, I also figure that moving there will help the three of us keep up our handgun skills. We can't go traipsing off to a military base every time we want to fire off a few rounds you know."

When she heard about law enforcement, Kasumi's interest was piqued. Maybe if she became a detective, she could find out what had happened to her family all those years ago. Living in Nerima had become a bit of a struggle lately. The few memories that she still had of her father and sisters, sometimes brought her to tears, especially when she wandered and found herself at the sight of the dojo, now a housing development. What kind of name is Maison Ikkoku anyway? The last Tendo wanted the chance for her heart to heal, and moving away sounded like the best idea. Revenge, of course, would come later.

The move was uneventful and the Saotomes and Kasumi found Chicago to be a refreshing change to the staid prefecture. Genma almost went back to his old weight when he discovered deep dish pizza and restaurants like The Chicago Chop House. Luckily the diet his wife had put him on years ago and his somewhat active lifestyle put his metabolism on par with his son's. Even Kasumi had been known to scarf down hefty meals at her favorite Italian restaurant, Lido's. Of course, her natural grace and charm made it seem like she was eating in a dignified manner, despite the size of the meals themselves.

Kasumi's and Ranma's relationship had progressed to the point where they felt they no longer needed to _'sneak around'_ as it were. When they revealed what they had been sharing all this time to Ranma's parents, minus any graphic details, they were stunned that the two elder Saotomes already knew. Nodoka told them that she knew once they returned from the Nagasaki trip. "A mother can always tell," she said. Genma found out later by accidentally walking in on them while they were busy a couple of years later and just left quietly, so as not to disturb them. With Ranma being a somewhat genius, no one knew that a life altering choice like moving to another country would reveal that, he was able to be in the same school as Kasumi. Thanks to years of training, he looked somewhat older than his actual age, that being three years Kasumi's junior. The both of them made quite a stir in school. Everyone thought them to be the perfect couple and it showed. However, once graduation rolled around, things didn't stay that way. Ranma's wanderlust reared its ugly head and Kasumi decided to join the police academy. Though they didn't part with harsh words but actually an intense night of passion, it was plain to see that they were no longer an item.

Kasumi soon realized she had found her niche, one of many to be truthful. The skills she showed at the academy powered her through the school and landed her a job right off the bat with the Chicago P.D., something she was immensely proud of. If Ranma had still been there, she would have shown him how happy she was, but thoughts like that caused a small ache in her heart. A few months before they moved away, the Saotomes, along with their new daughter Keiko, took Kasumi out to celebrate. It helped ease the ache somewhat, but not much. After they moved away, Kasumi slowly rose to the rank of lieutenant. She was instrumental in the arrest and conviction of many dangerous criminals during her early years on the force. She soon gained the attention of the higher-ups and was offered a plum assignment on an elite Special Forces team. Even though it would mean moving to a new town, she accepted the offer.

The day she met her new teammates was an interesting one to be sure. She didn't expect to see a familiar face as she walked into the office.

"Uncle Genma? Is that you?"

Genma looked up from his desk and recognized who she was right away. "_Kasumi!_ How good to see you. Come here and give me a hug." The now burly man with a slight graying in his beard and at the temples stood and opened his arms which Kasumi filled right away. Slipping into Japanese, Genma asked, "So how have you been Kasumi-chan? No-chan and I haven't heard from you in a while and Keiko was wondering about her auntie. What's been going on?" Replying in kind while finishing the hug and stepping back, Kasumi told Genma of what had happened to her since her last letter to them and asked about Ranma. He told her that they hadn't heard from him in a while and assumed that the two of them had gotten back together. Kasumi was a little saddened by this news but pushed it aside for the time being. A clearing of a throat behind her caused them both to focus their attention on the new arrival.

"So Genma, who's this? Are you seeing someone behind Nodoka's back? I must admit, she's…" "_Don't_ finish that thought Brad or you'll be spitting teeth." The brown haired man's eyes widened slightly in shock at that statement. "This is my niece Kasumi. Kasumi, meet Brad Vickers. He's one of the pilots for the team." Sticking out her hand, Kasumi said, "Nice to meet you Brad. Thank you for the almost compliment." "Uh, no problem. Nice to meet you too. If you'll excuse me, I'll be over by the communications console." After shaking her hand, he wandered off. Turning around again, Kasumi gave Genma an inquiring glance. Genma told her of Brad's somewhat rotten reputation with women and of his nickname _'Chicken Heart.'_ He then explained that Brad was somewhat of a coward, but the best helicopter pilot and mechanic they had. Before they could continue their exchange, a new voice interrupted them.

"Hey Genma, who's this? Don't tell me you have another daughter that you didn't tell anyone about. Hi, I'm Chris Redfield. And you are?" On first glance, Kasumi wasn't impressed in the least. Chris seemed to be an average looking man, slightly muscular and carried himself like a boxer. Having known Ranma ruined all other men for her because she knew they would never measure up to him. She figured that Chris would be a good friend and someone she might be able to trust someday, so she thought she should make a good first impression. "I'm Kasumi Tendo. It's a pleasure to meet you. Genma is actually my uncle, but not by blood or marriage. It's a Japanese thing." With a slight look of confusion, Chris finished shaking Kasumi's hand and welcomed her to the team. He then sat at his desk to go over a case file there.

Before she could turn around again, a third person entered the room. This man was by far the strangest she had ever seen. Dressed in what seemed to be the standard uniform for the group, it was militarily sharp. His blond hair was styled in a severe buzz cut which seemed to defy gravity by sticking straight up. The fact that he was wearing sunglasses indoors wasn't lost on Kasumi either. _'What type of fool wears sunglasses indoors? He must be trying to compensate for a distinct _lack_ of something if he thinks that makes him look cool. Who's he trying to impress anyway?'_ Kasumi's internal dialogue was interrupted when the man stepped up to her and Genma. Taking the reigns of conversation, Genma made the introductions. "Kasumi, meet Albert Wesker. He's the captain. Captain Wesker, meet Kasumi Tendo, my niece."

"You're Captain Wesker? Then I guess I need to give you this." Reaching behind herself, Kasumi pulled out a manila envelope and handed it to the blond-haired man who had yet to say anything. Opening the envelope, he then skimmed over the papers inside before looking back to her. Opening his mouth, he spoke the words that would forever seal her fate. "Well, it seems everything is in order. Welcome to the Special Tactics and Rescue Squad Alpha Team, also known as S.T.A.R.S. Alpha. I hope you'll enjoy living here in Raccoon City."

------------

Author's Notes:

I've finally finished this damn thing. And here it usually takes me less time to write a 'Scenes from Nerima' fic. Go figure. Of course, I own none of the characters here, not even Trent. For those of you that have read the novelizations of the games by S.D. Perry, you would know who he is. It's been a while since I've played the games and read the books, so the time frames may seem skewed. That and I plan to wreak havoc on the Resident Evil world. [Insert evil boisterous laugh here] ahem My bad. Anywho, it might be a while before my next chapter comes out, or at least the first one since this is the prologue. Where I'll be steering this fic, only my muse knows for sure and she ain't telling.

As always, reviews are appreciated. It's nice to be acknowledged. Ranma won't be making an appearance for a while though so don't expect him to just show up right off the bat. This is my first attempt at a fusion fic of sorts. With Kasumi playing the role of Jill Valentine and Genma filling Barry Burton's shoes, it makes you wonder who else from the Ranmaverse will be taking over somebody's life. Just to make something perfectly clear, Kuno will not be Alfred Ashford. That guy is loony enough. Shampoo will also not be Ada Wong. I have someone else in mind for her. Of course, I'm not telling who I mean. As always, remember my motto, "My fic, my rules." See you in the funny papers.


	2. Chapter 1

Retribution for the Damned

by DigiSim

------------

Chapter 1

------------

Kasumi stood from the office chair and went over a mental checklist. Getting out of town alive was a number one priority. If she was able to save people and get them to safety, preferably out of town too, so much the better. The martial artists code of protect those that can't protect themselves wouldn't work if the person didn't want to cooperate. Case in point, George. He was just too stubborn and afraid to leave. Though it went against both the code as well as the vow of 'Protect and Serve' she took when she first started on the path of law enforcement, there wasn't much she could do. She at least hoped that someone else would be able to come by and convince him to leave. She doubted it would actually happen, but she could always hope.

Thanks to her years of training with Genma and Ranma, she had discovered she was able to store extra items she wouldn't normally be able to carry with her by accident. Apparently it was a family trait but was teachable. She taught all three Saotomes and later Keiko how to use the invisible pocket. It didn't even seem to matter how big or heavy something was, the space an object used was negligible and if she wanted, she could have stored Mount Rushmore in the pocket with room to spare. The thing never seemed to get filled up but finding what she put in wasn't hard at all. The fact that there were some strange objects already in there when she first discovered the pocket kind of made her wonder. What _would_ she do with all those mallets anyway? It made carrying extra ammo and medical supplies easier at least.

Pulling out her Beretta, Kasumi checked the clip and chambered a round, then slipped it back in the space between her skirt and right hip. As she left the office and headed down the stairs, she wondered about where to head first. The Bar Jack seemed the closest from where she was and it was a local hangout for what used to be both the S.T.A.R.S. teams. Ever since the time at the Spencer Estate, what with all but Rebecca Chambers of the Beta team and Kasumi, Genma and Chris of Alpha surviving, there weren't enough members left. Brad had been in the chopper the whole time so he was still around as well. When they tried to tell their story, the powers-that-be swept it under the rug, disbanded the Raccoon City branch of S.T.A.R.S. and made them pariahs. The fact that Chief Irons was part of the corruption came as a shock to Kasumi. She should have figured it out by all the expensive '_gifts_' he always received. At least the remaining members of the now defunct team still had the Bar Jack to hang out and make plans in. She mainly wanted to head there because she knew the bartender kept a shotgun under the bar in case some fool tried to rob the place. If her luck held, there would also be shells waiting for her. She wasn't going to hold her breath though.

------------

Earlier, a lone figure on a motorcycle drove into town from the interstate and wondered what the hell was going on. Ever since her brother phoned her about what happened in some local mansion, she was worried about him. Of course she believed him when he told her about the zombies and the evil Umbrella Corporation. She never trusted them at all. When her brother all but dropped off the face of the map, Claire Redfield headed to Raccoon City to find Chris. Sure it meant skipping out on classes at the college she was enrolled in, but sacrifices had to be made. The fact that it was during a break was actually moot at the moment. Ever since Chris and Claire lost their parents in a car crash years ago, Chris looked after his little sister like a guardian angel. Now it was Claire's turn to return the favor. Maybe that explained the angel motif on some of their favorite clothes.

As she rode through the streets, Claire noticed a distinct lack of people. '_Where_ is_ everybody_?' she wondered. Even though it was only eight at night, there should have been at least a few people about. Maybe she could find someone at a restaurant or something. Pulling up at a diner, Claire stopped her bike and shut it off. She removed her helmet and laid it on the seat she just vacated and looked around. While fiddling with her ponytail, she discovered that aside from the lights in the diner, and a few street lamps, there was no sign of life anywhere. Feeling a little spooked, Claire entered the eating establishment.

Upon entering, she saw all the seats and the space behind the counter was empty. Holding back a sigh, Claire thought she heard some sort of sound down by the end of the counter. "Hello? Is anyone here?" No answer came back. Walking down to the end, Claire called out again. "Hello? Hello." Looking at the floor, she saw a bald man crouched over what looked like a body. Aside from the odd noise which seemed to be coming from this spot, '_Is that_ chewing?' She would have thought she walked in on somebody making out but the crouching man then turned around and looked at her with the most horrible blank eyes.

Letting out a gasp, Claire stepped back as the man stood up. When he had looked at her, he hissed for some reason. She didn't want to find out why. He seemed to be the cook, judging by his clothes. There was a spread out area of blood on his shirt and apron, and more disturbing was the blood around his mouth. It looked like he had chewed off his own lips. There was a stale smell in the air that seemed to be coming from him. Claire could barely breathe with that cloying odor now filling the diner. As she backed up, she pulled out the Beretta her brother gave her as a birthday present years ago and aimed it at the grotesque freak.

"Keep back, I'll shoot!" The former fry-cook didn't stop his advance and Claire sent six slugs into his chest. He kept right on shuffling after her. "What _are_ you?" She didn't expect an answer and was glad that she didn't get one. If it talked as dreadfully as it looked, she didn't think she could handle that. Banging her back against the door, she turned around ready to run to her bike and make good her escape. The group of freaks moaning and pounding on the door and windows had other ideas. Giving a small shriek of fright, she turned around again looking for a way out.

Spotting a fire exit and judging that the bloody cook wasn't close enough to grab her yet, she made a break for it. Running through the door, the last thing she expected to see was the barrel of a gun pointed right at her head.

"Don't shoot, I'm a human!" The man lowered his Glock and gave a small sigh. He seemed to be a cop and she was glad to see him. "Get Down!" Shrieking again, Claire ducked as the man shot a hole in the former cook's forehead, knocking him down to never get up again. "Who are you?" This guy that just saved her seemed to be pretty skilled. "No time, we've got to get out of here! This way, hurry!" Grabbing her hand, the two ran out of the alley in the opposite direction of the growing crowd of creatures.

Spotting a patrol car, Claire and the officer got in. Turning the key and gunning the engine, they sped off. Now able to relax, Claire looked over the man driving their salvation. He looked to be a few years younger than Chris. He was wearing the SWAT version of a police uniform, minus the helmet and the bulky gloves. His bulletproof vest had 'R.P.D.' printed in big bold white letters on the front. She wondered how long he had dealt with those creatures. Deciding to break the silence, she asked him, "So who are you? You look like a cop."

"I'm Leon Kennedy. I just transferred here to the Raccoon City Police Department and haven't even made it to the station yet. I stopped a few blocks from where I found you when I saw someone lying in the middle of the street. I was surrounded quickly but got away then ran into you. I wish I knew what is going on here. What about you? What's your story?"

"My name's Claire. Claire Redfield. I'm looking for my brother."

------------

"When I decided to come to this city, I should have had my head examined."

Heaving a sigh as she sat down on a park bench, a young woman was wishing she had a little more common sense than to come to Raccoon City, especially considering what was going on at the moment. Taking a look around, she didn't care that she was in a town populated by the walking dead. With the life she had lead, she had seen worse. Working as an operative for Umbrella seemed to be the reason for that. Her current assignment was to find a doctor named Burton or Berkin or whatever and get a sample of the G-Virus he created. If required, she would have to kill anyone who got in her way, at her own discretion of course. Being an assassin on the payroll of a major conglomerate like Umbrella, a company that puts forth a family-friendly face in it's advertising but had a much darker side that it never wanted the public to see, did not instill confidence in a retirement plan. She knew one day she might lose her life doing her job. Ada Wong, a woman not to be messed with, desired that her life had taken a better turn.

Nowadays, Ada had no idea why she joined up with Umbrella in the first place. Ada Wong wasn't even her real name. Her real name had been lost to her years ago, along with most of her past. She just picked it out at random one time and it stuck. The old man, Trent, thought it suited her. He was the only good thing in her life lately. She didn't know if he worked for Umbrella or not, but she didn't care. All she knew was that he had been a constant in her life for years, a father figure if you will, something she desperately needed. When he took her under his wing, she was grateful. He was the first _truly_ friendly face she knew, barring whatever had been lost to her thanks to her amnesia. The frequently smiling man seemed to have all the answers all the time but didn't always reveal them. He said that would be too easy. Even for her current mission, he had information he thought she would find useful but only imparted it in dribs and drabs. The PDA he gave her with the maps stored on it was helpful to be sure. The cryptic way he said that she '_might find something you've been searching for_' confused her. What could he have meant by that?

Getting up, she pulled out the PDA and turned it on. She was looking for an entrance to get to the hidden lab the doctor had. Scanning through the info on the screen, she came upon what she needed. Turning the PDA off and putting it away, Ada turned to her left and headed out of the park in the direction of the police station. Now if only she didn't run across any overzealous zombies everything would be golden. At least she didn't have to deal with that asshole Wesker anymore. She was genuinely happy when she heard the news that he had been skewered by a prototype version of the Tyrant. She wouldn't want to meet any updated versions though.

------------

Kasumi had made it to the bar, avoiding a few flesh-eaters along the way. She didn't really feel the need to waste ammunition unless it was absolutely necessary. She was amazed that she met Brad though. The last she had heard about old Chicken Heart Vickers was that he had hauled ass out of town weeks ago. Was it really only a couple of months since what happened at the estate? After she helped Brad put down a zombie in the bar, he practically freaked out while telling her about '_something_' coming for him, for all S.T.A.R.S. members. She couldn't get anything more out of him because he had run off after spouting what she would have judged as nonsense, except for the fact that Brad had looked like he would have dropped dead from fright any second. For some reason, Kasumi decided to rifle through the virus carrier's clothes in search of something useful. The dead man had been somebody she sort of knew from the force. His name had been Martin Grey. He and his wife had just had a baby three months prior, a little girl named Emily. At least now the three of them were together again on the other side. The only thing she found in Martin's uniform was an old lighter with some fuel still left in it. As she stood up, she slipped it into her invisible pocket and headed behind the bar to find the shotgun.

A thorough search turned up nothing but the weapon. There weren't even any stray shells just lying around and the double-barrel looked like it had seen better days. Thinking it could at least be useful for something, it also went into the pocket and Kasumi made her way outside after Brad.

Except for some moaning off in the distance the street was deserted. Not even a monstrosity could be seen at the moment. Taking a right, Kasumi headed off to R.P.D. headquarters for a little ammo raid. She knew the weapons closet in the S.T.A.R.S. office had to have something in it. The sound of a quick '_shuffle-click_' behind her set her danger sense off immediately. Spotting a fire escape nearby, she jumped straight for it landing lightly at the top level. It was a good thing that the Saotome school of Anything Goes specialized in mid-air combat. Turning around, she searched the street below to find out what had made the sound but she had a sneaking suspicion she already knew. She just hoped she was wrong.

She wasn't wrong. It was a Hunter. '_Damn it. Just what I_ didn't _need_.' The Hunters were one of the many Bio-Organic Weapons created at one of the Umbrella labs somewhere in the United States then shipped to Raccoon for testing. She had met up with a few of them a couple months back and wished she hadn't. They were a genetic crossbreed of plant and reptile D.N.A. that was treated with the T-Virus. Their long arms had a hell of a reach with nasty claws at the end of their fingers. It was bad enough that they were as strong as five mountain gorillas each and somewhat resembled them in build, but the fact that they could leap great distances in such a short amount of time made them even more dangerous. The stooped way they walked made their hands drag on the ground and those hands had great grip strength too. A Hunter's skull was shaped like a Cro-Magnon's but with a thicker bone density and a ridge of small spikes where the eyebrows should be. The needle-like teeth in their cruel mouths and the howling shrieks they made could give anyone nightmares. Putting one down was quite a task but not impossible. Dealing with a whole group of the green meanies, well that's another story altogether.

As the Hunter turned a corner further down the street, Kasumi let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. It hadn't noticed she was there and for that she was glad. The thing must have escaped before the mansion and secret lab were destroyed in the explosion. Leaping back down to street level, Kasumi started off towards H.Q. again. As she rounded the corner the Hunter had went around earlier, she saw a disgusting sight. About five zombies were feasting on one of their own. Even though she was used to seeing things like this lately, she never could stomach it for long. It didn't seem like trying to sneak by was an option because a couple of them sensed her and stood up. She put a bullet through the forehead of the first to rise and the rest stood too. In a short amount of time, Kasumi dealt with the threat and continued yet again for her destination while sending up a small prayer for the souls of the poor unfortunates she had just shot. The day she could easily kill a zombie or any other being without a hint of remorse was a day she hoped would never come. Holding on to her humanity kept her sane.

------------

'Now _where am I_?'

Ada had gotten lost a few blocks from the park. She knew that she wouldn't have been able to head straight for the police station thanks to the many different roadblocks set up around town, but taking so many shortcuts got her turned around.

'_Okay, I took a left at the sporting goods store and headed down that back alley behind the coffee house. So where the _hell_ is the police station_?'

Pulling out her PDA, Ada consulted the map and discovered she was nowhere near the station. She had ended up by the old City Hall. Stifling a curse and wanting to fling the piece of tech into the stratosphere, she regained her bearings, updated the map as best she could and headed off in the right direction. Hopefully.

------------

Claire was lost. She had to bail from the patrol car earlier when a semi tanker had slammed into it from behind after she and Leon had crashed into a street sign. Luckily the both of them survived but were now separated by a huge bonfire created by the crash. What was worse was that after they went their separate ways, Claire found she had troubles right away. There were some zombies nearby that didn't mind one bit that they were walking torches at the moment. Since she didn't have enough ammunition for her Beretta, she had run for it and luckily found herself inside a gun shop. After the guy behind the counter had been killed off by the zoms outside, she had swiped a few boxes of rounds and picked up a new weapon too. She hoped the crossbow would help.

Now that she was on her way again, Claire had no clue where she was. She had never been to this city before and traveling through alleyways and over debris was not her idea of fun. Having to deal with ambulating corpses at almost every step was starting to piss her off. She wouldn't let it get her down though. She was doing this for Chris. If she lost him, she wouldn't have any reason to go on living anymore. He was the only family she had left, as far as she knew anyway.

Earlier, she had seen a woman in a short and tight red dress with black leggings and wanted to talk to her. She looked like she was still alive and Claire hoped they could help each other out. Unfortunately she lost track of her and was now lost because of it. The last place Claire had been in was a restaurant called Grill 13. '_This town has some weird names for their businesses_.' There was nothing of interest in the place anyway so she had moved on. The sound of gas leaking in the kitchen had worried her though.

------------

Leon was not having the best of luck. After the crash and splitting up from Claire, he headed into the back entrance of the police station. There were a few zombies around but he wanted to save what rounds he could so he just ran by them. Luckily they were slow and he had no trouble. Finding the key for the back door was a little bit of a pain but he found it easily. Why he couldn't go through the door leading into the underground garage was a mystery though. He had also found more flesh-eaters in the yard behind the building after exiting the small maintenance shed. One female zombie was quite attractive, especially in those tiny shorts she was wearing. If she had been alive, Leon would have hit on her.

Shaking off the perverted thoughts caused by stress and fatigue, he headed up the metal stairs in time to see a tragedy. On the rooftop landing pad, a man in SWAT armor was surrounded by zombies. He was panicking and doing his best to blow them away with an automatic rifle. His best wasn't good enough. When they dragged him down, he still had his finger squeezing the trigger and spent the rest of the clip into the sky. The flying ordinance pocked into a helicopter hovering overhead and splattered the pilot all over the seat he was in. Control was lost almost immediately and the chopper came in for a crash landing. The explosion from the collision nearly deafened Leon who was still recovering his hearing from the tankers explosion.

Inside, Leon found himself in a winding hallway. He had nearly wet himself when he found the dead body. The tenseness of the situation made him think it would rise up and attack him until he saw it had already done so but was now missing a good portion of its head. Someone had taken care of this one already and Leon was glad. After leaving the hallway with mostly windows on the outer wall, Leon entered another hall and nearly had another bathroom emergency. Whatever the creatures were, they were definitely _not_ zombies. The claws on the ends of their fingers and toes made it possible for them to crawl along the wall. The hissing sounds they made and the dripping three-foot long tongues wagging out from their mutated heads creeped him out. Their skinless look and exposed brains nauseated him. The teeth that resembled spikes in their huge deaths-head grinning mouths set him on edge too. He hoped they weren't smart enough to open doors as he bolted for one he saw right near him. It was a pretty close call as he shot through the door and slammed it shut. Knowing his luck, he would have to come back later. Feeling the back of his head, he realized that he had just received an impromptu trim from one of the creatures as it had swiped at him while he was escaping. As this thought raced through Leon's mind, his body just said '_All right, break time_' and he fainted.

------------

Genma was worried. He had sent his wife and daughter out of town as soon as the events at the Spencer Estate had concluded. The only reason he had almost completely betrayed Kasumi and Chris was thanks to Wesker threatening the lives of Nodoka and Keiko. Now that Wesker was dead, he could breathe a little easier. That didn't mean he would totally drop his guard. All their lives were still in danger from Umbrella and Genma wanted his family to be as safe as possible. Ranma was still wandering the country somewhere and his father had no idea where he could be at the moment. He prayed that he was safe.

Nodoka had taken Keiko to Chicago. From there, Nodoka would figure out where in America was the best place to hide out. The old house they lived in while Genma was on the Chicago Police force was still owned by the Saotomes. Once she made her decision, Nodoka would contact her husband back in Raccoon City and let him know where she was going. Genma hadn't heard from her in a while and was starting to worry. The phone suddenly ringing nearly gave him a heart attack.

"Hello? Nodoka, is that you?"

"Of course Genma dear, who else would it be?"

Letting out a sigh of relief and letting his heart calm down, Genma asked, "Have you decided yet?"

"I'm actually there now. This call will have to be short since the long distance will be murder on the phone bill. I've gone back to Japan."

"Japan!? Why all the way to Japan?"

"For one, so Keiko can learn more about her roots. For another, I feel it's important yet I don't know why. I'm at my cousin's place at the moment but I'll be going to visit with my father and then we'll be going to where the dojo used to stand. Do you understand dear?"

With a smile on his lips, Genma replied, "I understand perfectly. Be careful No-chan. And if you can, let me know if you find Ranma. I'll do the same for you."

"Of course Genma. I love you."

"I love you too Nodoka. Kiss Keiko for me. Goodbye."

"I will. Goodbye."

After hanging up, Genma settled down in his favorite chair and decompressed. The cryptic way she mentioned the places where she was going wouldn't be understood by anyone listening in, if there had been. They would need a deep understanding of the Saotome family to figure it out. Her cousin was an archeologist. The man had two children of his own, a teenage boy named Toya and a young daughter named Sakura. Genma actually forgot the name of the prefecture they lived in. It didn't matter at the moment anyway. From there, she would head to Juuban. Her father had been dead for years but he had left her his home in his will and only the two of them knew of it. When she said she would visit with him, she meant she would pray at his final resting place. It had been quite a long time since she had done so. The place had been a Shinto shrine as long as he could remember and the current head priest was his wife's uncle. The miko, Rei, was actually his half daughter. Genma didn't know he had been dating sisters at the time until he had broken up with Rei's future mother and Nodoka had brought him home to meet her family. It had been an ugly scene and Genma still had the scars from it. Why she was going to head to Nerima after stopping there was a mystery to Genma. He figured her reasons were her own and he wouldn't question them. He trusted her judgment.

His own plans, however, could be continued now. Umbrella had its headquarters in England and that was where he was going. Chris had gone on ahead and Kasumi would bring up the rear after Genma left. They were going to try and take down a multi-national corporation with very few resources. S.T.A.R.S. also had headquarters in England so they weren't fully out of luck. It just meant the spray wouldn't be as big once the shit hit the fan. Genma still didn't care for their chances though. Heading into his bedroom, he proceeded to pack the essentials and get the hell out of Raccoon.

------------

Arriving at the front gate of the station, Kasumi noticed that someone had wrapped a lot of ropes around the handles. They smelled faintly of kerosene. Sure she could just jump over the gate but someone might need to use it later. Pulling out the lighter, she flipped open the top, lit it and touched the flame to the ropes. They caught almost instantaneously. The flame did its job quickly and soon the ropes were no more. Putting the lighter away, Kasumi thought to herself '_Screw it_' and hopped over the gate anyway. She didn't want to burn her hands on the hot metal. As she was walking towards the front doors, she heard the creak of metal and turned around quickly, pulling her gun and aiming at whoever or whatever was behind her. It was Brad.

"Kasumi, you're still alive." Brad stopped in front of her, bent over with his hands resting on his knees and panting slightly. Kasumi lowered her weapon slightly, not putting it away just in case. Brad may be a coward but he could still turn on her. She hated having the thought she just had but she couldn't be too careful. The way Brad had phrased his statement made Kasumi think he had expected her to be dead and was disappointed that she wasn't.

"I could say the same thing about you Brad," she said with a slight hint of malice that Brad completely missed. As Brad stood, Kasumi's vision was suddenly blocked by a huge black field. Brad's scream of terror confirmed to her that she hadn't passed out or gotten knocked unconscious. The field filling her vision suddenly moved away from her and she saw it was someone's back. Whoever it was had to be at least seven feet tall if not more. The giant was wearing a huge leather duster that hung down to the ground and only exposed its hands and head. What flesh she could see of this person seemed to be a mottled gray color. There was no hair on the head that she could see and she just realized that while she was standing there dumbly, this person was slowly closing in on Brad.

"Kasumi, for God's sake, RUN!!!" Brad's shout seemed to startle Kasumi out of her daze but she was still frozen in place. As she looked over the figure looming over Brad, she saw what looked like things writhing under the duster. She could see whatever it was peeking out of the sleeves and the collar. The figure then grabbed Brad's head in one hand and Kasumi heard a slight cracking noise followed by a noisy 'splurt.' Two of the tentacles hiding under the jacket had shot out and pierced Brad right through his throat. His body slumped as they retracted and his life's blood came gushing out through the hole in his neck. The monster, for Kasumi now knew that's what this thing was, then tossed Brad aside like a rag doll and turned to her.

Once Kasumi got a good look at its face, her heart nearly stopped. Her worst nightmare had come to life. The eyes were cataracts and utterly white, held in a permanent sneer. Its nose was hardly there, more of a tiny lump of flesh with two holes beneath. What drew Kasumi's eyes was its mouth. In the middle of a head of too-tight skin, like a stretched out sack, was a gaping hole filled with sharp jagged teeth and blood red gums. Kasumi didn't need to know anymore. It really was her worst nightmare brought back. '_Tyrant_!'

With a slow gait, it stalked towards her. This is what Brad had been babbling about in the bar. It had killed Brad and then discarded him like an eggshell. He was lying, dead and broken, against the stone fence in a pool of his own fluids and now his murderer was after her. Her whole life, even before losing her family, could never prepare her for the terror that was racing through her veins. Especially when it spoke.

"_Ssstaaarrsss…_"

------------

Author's Notes:

Man this took a while. I finally got out the first chapter. I guess I should have concentrated on this story more than the other two I'm working on at the same time as this one. Let me tell you, writing fiction isn't easy at all. Even when I want something to be longer than three damn pages. I don't know why I bothered in the first place though. Hardly anybody read the prologue let alone reviewed it. I do thank the three people that did actually. Or is it four? I haven't checked in a while. Either way, I'm going to post this like it or not.

I doubt I need to mention that anybody named or the places used in this story belong to me. Like it really matters either way. I'm not getting paid for writing this. I'm just doing it for my own amusement. Well, that and the people that like my work, what little there is of it. It might be a while before the next chapter. I need to get my mind revved up again. As always, remember my motto, "My fic, my rules." See you in the funny papers.


	3. Chapter 2

Retribution for the Damned

by DigiSim

------------

Chapter 2

------------

With a startled gasp, Kasumi awoke.

_'Oh, what an odd dream,'_ she thought to herself. Stretching her arms above her head and arching her back, Kasumi worked out the kinks that had accumulated during her down time. Bringing her arms back down, she looked to her left and squinted a little as the sun shone off the ocean and reflected into her eyes through the airplane window.

 '_Hmm, just how far away are we?'_ She wondered if the ocean she was flying over could still be called the Sea of Japan since the plane had taken off from Narita International an hour and a half ago. Checking her watch confirmed how long they had been in the air, despite the delay from taking off. Exhaling through her nose, Kasumi looked to her right and saw Ranma sitting in the seat right next to hers.

_'Oh, he looks_ so _handsome sleeping like that. I love his hair in that braid.'_ Said braid was hanging over Ranma's left shoulder at the moment. Kasumi had toyed with the idea to do hers the same way the day Ranma started wearing his as it is now. She decided to put off the decision for a while and actually forgot about it till just that moment. As her eyes roved over her secret lover's frame, Kasumi felt a small smile touch her lips.

_'I'm so lucky. I love Ranma so much and he loves me. I just wish we didn't have to hide from Uncle Genma and Auntie Nodoka how we feel.'_ Kasumi's eyes kept wandering, taking in the sight of Ranma wearing his standard red Chinese shirt with wooden frog ties, black kung-fu pants and slippers. _'Wait a minute. Ranma doesn't dress like this. He likes T-shirts and jeans like I do. Why is he dressed this way? It looks good on him though so why am I complaining?'_

Shrugging off the thought as insignificant at the moment, Kasumi looked across the aisle to see her aunt and uncle asleep in their seats as well. Kasumi and the Saotomes had to rush to Narita that day to catch an early flight to America. Thanks to unseasonably bad weather, if they had missed their plane, they would have had to wait for almost forty-eight hours to try again. The rain was so bad that there were hardly any departures or arrivals at the airport. Sleep had overtaken the four of them during the delay on the ground and she was the first to awake.

Looking over her aunt and uncle, Kasumi was puzzled about the strange way they were dressed too. Genma was wearing a dirty white gi that was several sizes too large for his muscular frame, a cloth on his head that vain bald men wore even though he had a full head of hair and ridiculous looking glasses held on his face by what looked like strings going around his ears. Nodoka was wearing a kimono and had her hair up in a bun. As long as Kasumi could remember, she had never seen her aunt wear a kimono except during the Sakura Festival every year as well as whenever they all went out to visit a traveling fair.

_'Maybe they were all dressed this way and I just didn't notice it till now. It doesn't matter anyway.'_ Kasumi was about to drift off to sleep again when the sound of children laughing could be heard near the front of the plane. A young girl of seven appeared in her view of the aisle, wearing emerald green shorts that looked too small on her young body, a lemon yellow sleeveless top and a pageboy-style haircut that framed her face nicely. The girl turned and faced the way she had come so all Kasumi could see was her profile. She felt the girl looked familiar.

"Nya nya, can't catch me sis!"

The girl then stuck her tongue out at whoever she just taunted, turned to her left which gave Kasumi a good look at her face, winked at her and then fled down the aisle laughing. Kasumi felt she had seen the girl somewhere before once her face was revealed full-on. For the life of her, where that was refused to make itself known in her mind. The next figure to appear was a girl of six wearing a sleeveless, pale yellow sundress and had black, almost dark blue hair styled short which Kasumi felt didn't suit her.

"C'mon Biki, my legs aren't as fast as yours!"

The girl then looked at Kasumi and gave her a smile that would have rivaled the sun for brightness. Right after that, she took off after her sister. This was another girl that seemed memorable to her but she didn't know why. Who were those girls?

"Kane-chan, Biki-chan, behave yourselves!"

A third figure put in an appearance. She figured this girl, who looked to be nine, was the other two's eldest sister. She was wearing a peach colored skirt that hung down to just below her knees and a powder pink blouse. Her hair was in a ponytail and rested on her right shoulder, just like Kasumi wore hers. The girl then looked at her and snarled viciously. This utterly startled Kasumi. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought the girl had growled like a dog or wolf as well. What had she done to deserve such a reaction anyway?

With an _'Hmph,'_ the girl turned and followed her two siblings, to try and wrangle them back to their seats. _'What the hell was _her_ problem?'_ Shaking her head, Kasumi decided it wasn't worth worrying about and settled back in her seat.

A few minutes later, hunger made itself known in Kasumi's gut. As she was about to ring for the stewardess, a cart pushed by one of the airplane staff arrived. "Hey there sugar, you hungry?"

_'What is with all this déjà vu today?'_ Kasumi just let her eyes slightly roam over the stew as she stood there. She was wearing the standard uniform for the airline of blouse and skirt and had her hair tied-up in a high ponytail with a big white bow. What didn't seem to be standard attire was the huge spatula strapped to the girls back as well as the bandolier of smaller spatulas slung across her chest.

"Hey, you awake in there? I asked if you were hungry." Blinking a couple times, Kasumi replied, "Sorry, it's just that you look a little familiar but I can't figure out why. So what's for breakfast?" Giving a slightly smug grin, the stewardess set up a portable grill in the blink of an eye and had three okonomiyaki grilling right away. "Hope you like this, it's my family's secret recipe. You want any special toppings?"

As the two bantered back and forth, the smell of the Japanese pancakes caused a slight rumble in the Tendo girl's currently empty stomach. The two laughed at her reaction to the smell of the food as it was served. Kasumi set to right away while the stewardess pushed her cart down the aisle to find more hungry passengers.

After she had finished her meal, Kasumi sat back and let breakfast digest. The okonomiyaki had been good, no question, but there was something off about them that she just couldn't put her finger on. Also, the fact that Ranma _hadn't_ woken up to the smell of food made Kasumi a little unsettled. Even in deep sleep, it would take very little if food was used to rouse him from slumber. Ever since she had woken up, everything had just seemed flawed.

Then there was the smell. It had been teasing her ever since she opened her eyes. It seemed so recognizable like almost everything else except it felt wrong too. For some odd reason, she just shook off the feeling even though something deep down told her that was a big mistake. Kasumi was starting to get an itchy feeling in the back of her mind, her danger sense warning her that something nasty was going to occur soon. The peace of her surroundings however, made her doubt.

The next déjà vu experience happened almost immediately. A man in a dark brown gi with long black hair stood up from the seat in front of her and turned to move into the aisle. Once she saw his profile, Kasumi's heart nearly stopped. This was no déjà vu feeling, this was actual recognition. _'Daddy?'_ Her father, Soun Tendo, had just appeared before her as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. It was impossible; there was no way he could be on this flight. Wasn't her father supposed to be dead?

"What the _HELL_ is going on here!?!" Kasumi shouted yet startled no one. Ever since she had regained consciousness, things were not as they should be. There just had to be an explanation, right? "Don't you get it yet stupid? You're dead."

_"Huh?"_ Whipping her head to the right, Kasumi saw Keiko standing in the aisle with a look of murder in her eyes. She was wearing the standard school uniform for Japanese girls except the sailor fuku looked to be rotting and stained with dried blood, one spot in the chest had been ripped open and fully exposed her budding left B-cup sized breast, the skin of which appeared bruised from rough handling, the nipple itself was swollen and stiff. Her skin had a waxy pallor, almost funereal in appearance. Her auburn hair that she had inherited from her mother and tied in a pigtail in an unconscious copying of the brother she had never met was matted with blood and dirt. The area above her left temple looked to be caved in and gray matter shone dully in the exposed region, a small stream of congealing blood running slowly from the wound. Kasumi finally recognized the smell that had been haunting her ever since she opened her eyes. It was the smell of death.

"Keiko, my God, what _happened_ to you?" The young girl gave a snort of derision and just glared a little longer at the older one. "What do you _think_ happened you dumb bitch? I'm _dead_, that's what happened. Oh, by the way, _thanks_ for getting me killed." _"What?"_ Kasumi couldn't believe her ears. Keiko was dead because of _her_? How the hell did _that_ happen?

"Don't bother asking, I'll just tell you. Because you died, you weren't there to save me and mom when those Umbrella assholes got to us. Daddy died trying to save us but as you can see, he didn't succeed." Looking across the aisle, Kasumi started to notice the pale complexion that it seemed all four Saotomes shared. Genma, Nodoka and Ranma hadn't moved one bit this whole time and she doubted they would anytime in the near future. Her gaze moving back to Keiko, Kasumi asked, "What about Ranma? How did _he_ die?"

Giving another snort, Keiko answered, "Umbrella again. They sent some assassin to take him out. He survived that but didn't survive the virus he was infected with. He ended up as just another carrier." Tears started to shine in the young girl's eyes as she looked on her older brother. With a hitch in her voice, Keiko continued. "He didn't even know he had been infected. One minute he's feeling fine, the next, itchy tasty ruled his mind. God, what a waste."

"Keiko I'm _so_ sorry. If only I could have been there."

"Well you _WEREN'T_ so _SHUT UP!_" Keiko shrieked in anger. "I _DON'T_ want to hear how sorry you are! _I! DON'T! CARE!_ So just _SHUT UP!_"

Kasumi tried to stand from her seat so she could comfort Keiko but found the seatbelt held her firmly. She was unable to unlatch it; it seemed to be rusted shut. As Kasumi tried to yank the belt out of the lead, a moaning sound reached her ears. Panic started to fill her chest as she yanked harder. The belt refused to budge.

"Keiko, help me. I'm stuck."

Looking to the dead girl, Kasumi gave a gasp of horror. Everywhere she looked, there were zombies. She had been wrong though, Genma and Nodoka would move again. There they were standing right behind their daughter, each with a protective and rotting hand on her shoulders. Her father, those three girls, the stewardess, even Chris and Brad; all were zombies. Trying to swallow her fear, Kasumi asked weakly, "Wh-what are you going to do to me?"

"Oh don't worry Kasumi; you're just going to get a makeover. You see, you need to look right to get into Hell. And right now, you're looking a little too healthy. Consider this payback bitch. Now fucking take your medicine like a good little whore."

As those final words left what remained of the decomposing girl's lips, Ranma lunged at Kasumi and latched onto her throat with a vice-like grip, cutting off her startled scream before it could be voiced. His cataract whitened eyes held no emotion other than hunger and hatred. All she heard him say before he sank his sharp and jagged teeth into her cheek was a hoarse _"Tasty"_ and then Kasumi knew only pain before blacking out.

------------

With a startled gasp, Kasumi awoke.

_'Shit, what _was_ that?'_ Shaking her sleep muddled head, Kasumi yawned and stretched. The nightmares had been getting steadily worse lately. And it was all thanks to Umbrella and their damn creatures. Being chased by bloodthirsty monsters and surviving would give anyone nightmares for the rest of their days, no matter how strong of mind they are. As Kasumi rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she looked around the room she had crashed in.

The S.T.A.R.S. office had been deserted for a while. A lot of member's personal effects still littered the desks in here except for the one by the far wall. That one was reserved for a rookie that would never show now. Kasumi had barely gotten away from that damn Tyrant earlier and in the process of exploring, fatigue caught up to her. The only safe place she could think of to catch some 'Z's was the office. She had gotten in just in time to hear someone on the communications array calling for help. She was unable to respond to the call because the radio transmitter looked to be trashed.

By that point, Kasumi really didn't give a damn anymore. All she wanted to do was to recharge her batteries. She just sat at her desk, put her head down and zoned out right away. Within minutes, Miss Tendo was dead to the world. Within a few more, the nightmare started. It was still fresh in her mind at the moment but was thankfully fading, slowly but surely. With a slight grunt, Kasumi stood and continued to stretch. It wouldn't do to get a muscle cramp while she might need to run for her life again. Knowing what she did of the monstrosities in the town, that was a very real possibility.

_'Well, since I'm here, I might as well scrounge around and see what I can get.'_ Kasumi decided that her best bet was to check Captain Wesker's desk first. It couldn't hurt to look and maybe there would be some sort of clue to who he answered to while he had been alive and stabbing the S.T.A.R.S. team in the back. She knew that Chief Brian Irons answered to him but Wesker had to have a superior, didn't he?

After picking up a couple of boxes of rounds she found behind the desk and storing them in her 'pocket,' she started opening drawers and rifling through the contents. Other than standard report forms, both filled out and blank, Kasumi discovered a roll of film. _'I wonder what's on this.'_ Dismissing it as unimportant, she put it back in the drawer she found it in and continued her scavenger hunt throughout the rest of the office. She didn't even notice when her hands briefly gained a life of their own and braided her hair into a pigtail like Ranma's.

------------

_'Finally, I'm here.'_

Slamming the gate shut and sliding the lock home, Claire breathed a sigh of relief. Those rotting bastards wouldn't be able to get her now. Ever since she had found herself in the basketball court near the gun shop, Claire knew she was on the right track again. Going back in there wasn't an option of course. No doubt the place was overrun by the zombies that had killed the owner earlier if not different ones. She felt she would need every bullet she could get so she didn't take the risk. The crossbow hadn't been very effective after all either. It took up to four arrows to put down one 'shuffler' as she called them and that was if she wasn't too far away. She wasn't about to just get rid of the weapon though. That would be suicide, not to mention just plain stupid.

There seemed to be two ways to get to the front doors and one seemed to be blocked off, but it could just be an illusion. _'Looks like I go downstairs.'_ Descending down the stone flight, Claire noticed a figure not too far off once she reached the bottom. He, and Claire could tell that he was a he from this distance, was wearing camouflage pants, combat boots that looked to have seen better days and a bright orange vest. '_All this guy needs is a glow-in-the-dark target painted on his back and his outfit will be complete. What kind of idiot wears orange when they're trying to hide? Dumbass._' His back was to her at the moment and she was wary of him.

His slight swaying motion suggested to her that he might be one of them. As she got closer, the figure turned around and reached out for her. She was nowhere near him so didn't need to jump back. Looking at his face and getting a whiff of his rancid scent told her that he was another shuffler. There were two ways she could play this, she could just run by and hope he wouldn't be fast enough to grab her, or she could blow his brains out and raid his clothes for whatever might help her survive.

_Krak-krak!_

Two quick shots barked out, slamming home in the shufflers forehead, dropping him instantly. There was no way she wanted that thing to even touch her with its slimy hands, let alone risk it. The body twitched a little then remained still while a pool of blood from seemingly nowhere spread out underneath. As she walked closer, Claire was forced to dive for the ground as a huge explosion went off right overhead followed closely by another and the sound of metal rending while a wave of heat washed over her back.

"Holy _Fuck_, what's going on?!?"

------------

The explosion off in the distance roused Leon from his forced nap. His nose hurt from having it slam into the unyielding floor. Placing both hands on the floor and pushing up, Leon groaned as he tried to move. It was apparent that his body hadn't fully caught up to his mind. He could feel every pound of his weight at his repeated attempts at a vertical state. The best he could do after a few minutes was to rise to all fours and look around. He was in what looked to be a somewhat tastefully decorated waiting room. The naked twelve-year-old girl standing by the door gave him a strange look.

_'Wait a minute, naked _girl?_'_ Looking again, Leon found he was mistaken. It was actually a very realistic statue. _'A little_ too _realistic if you ask me.'_ The eyes were especially disturbing, shining with life or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Her skin had the presence of silk to his eye. It couldn't be painted marble, the color was too real. Crawling over to the statue itself, Leon reached out a hand and gently caressed the still forms bare mound. He pulled his hand away almost immediately at the heat he felt radiating from the girls crotch.

"Oh, no need to stop on _my_ account handsome. I liked that. You've got nice hands." Gulping slightly, Leon's eyes wandered up from his straight on view of her reddening vulva to lock onto the girls eyes smiling right back at him. "Um, hi?"

Stifling a laugh with a hand, the girl smiled at him. "Hi yourself. So tell me, what's a stud like you doing in a hellhole like this? And more importantly, wanna screw?" Leon could not believe his ears. There was no way in hell she had just said that. "Uh, aren't you a little young to be talking like that?"

Laughing out loud this time, the girl answered his question with a question. "Have you ever heard of Gary Coleman or Emanuel Lewis?" Realization dawned immediately. "You mean you…" Nodding, the girl replied, "Yep, just like them. I'm actually twenty-two. So, my offer still stands even if you can't right now. You interested?" Blinking dumbly and finally having feeling returning to his body, Leon said, "But I don't even know your name."

Giving him a radiant grin, the girl placed a dainty foot on his left shoulder and shoved him onto his back. "The name's Naomi. Now shut up and fuck me." From the time he hit the floor to the time he found Naomi straddling his chest sucking on his tongue, Leon didn't care about much. He didn't care where his clothes had gone, he didn't care that a nude beauty was practically ravaging him, he didn't even care that he didn't have any condoms with him. All he cared about was getting off with this young-looking goddess.

Her tongue was like fire as it traced wet trails down his neck, over his chest, circled his nipples, roamed over his abs, dipped into his navel, parted through his pubes and finally yet achingly slowly caressed his cock. As Naomi's pert mouth kissed the head, she looked into his eyes with an evil gleam and continued her tongue torture down his left leg, reaching his foot to slurp his big toe into her mouth and gently suckle it. Leon's groan of delight and misery spurred Naomi on to even more exquisite torture. While still sucking on his toe, her delicate hands took his foot and massaged it. With a gentle nip, Naomi then moved onto his other foot and continued.

After what seemed like days, she trailed her tongue back up his right leg, paying special attention to the area behind his knee as she passed it, and started to bathe his scrotum in her saliva. Leon spread his legs to give this demon-girl-woman easier access. Taking the initiative, Naomi sucked one teste then the other into her mouth, bathing the sac more fully. Nibbling softly up the now engorged vein on the underside of his penis, her tongue flicked at the sensitive area where the head met the shaft. "Are you ready?"

Panting by now, Leon begged, "If you keep this up, I'm gonna blow my load soon. Please quit teasing me like this." Stifling a giggle by kissing the head again, Naomi crinkled her eyes at him. "I just want you to get ready. You don't want to disappoint me, _do you_?"  Giving an "Uh Uhh" in response, the quivering mass of jelly that was Leon Kennedy swallowed to wet his now parched throat. "Do whatever you want, I won't argue."

"Good." Naomi then rose and hovered over his throbbing prick. While grasping it in her hand, she aimed it at her dripping wet cunt and then slowly slid onto his hot shaft. Grunting at her tightness, Leon looked at her face to see it scrunched up in concentration and what he would deem to be anticipation. "Are you alright?" Panting herself now, she replied without opening her eyes, "Yeah, but I've got a confession to make. I'm a virgin. I'm just hoping this won't hurt too much."

Before he could stop her, Naomi then slammed herself down the rest of his length and let out an ear piercing shriek of pain. Leon felt as well as heard her hymen tear as his penis slid all the way into her and the head banged into her cervix. The tightness was a little painful for him too but her well being was foremost on his mind at the moment.

Sitting up, he took her into his arms and started to tenderly rock her. The ridiculousness of the situation would have made him break out laughing at any other time but right now wasn't appropriate. Letting a quiet sob escape, Naomi whimpered, "It hurt a hell of a lot more than I thought it would." Leon's slow back and forth movement made Naomi's clit rub through his pubic hair.

The mild rocking motion combined with the stimulation of her nub made the pain pass quickly and she started to move back and forth with him. Pretty soon, they were moving together in a dance as old as time. Leon lay back on the floor while Naomi rode him, bringing them both to a thrilling climax. Before he could shoot off, Naomi dropped one last bombshell. "I've got another confession to make. I lied to you earlier. I'm twelve, not twenty-two. I'm sorry." With tears in her eyes and a soul rending cry, Naomi came for the first time in her young life. As Leon's seed coated the inner recesses of her prepubescent vagina, the statement of her true age and his own orgasm became too much for him and he blacked out.

------------

"All right, first order of business; get the hell out of this town."

Kasumi had finally finished her raid of the S.T.A.R.S. office, leaving behind a few items in case somebody showed up after her, and decided now was a good a time as any to go. With the clip in her Berretta fully loaded and one round chambered, she felt a little better. Heading down the stairs, Kasumi paused as she thought she had heard something. Thinking it nothing, she continued. At the bottom of the stairs, the window right behind her exploded in a hail of masonry and glass.

_"DAMN!"_

She didn't need to turn around and see what it was. She knew instinctively. As if the destruction of the wall wasn't clue enough. Kasumi's run for her life was halted by a voice however.

_"WHERE IN THE HELL AM I NOW?!"_

------------

Waking up, Leon found he was face down on the floor. Again. His nose hurt and his shorts were soaked in cum. "That was one weird dream." Groaning as he stood, Leon stretched and popped his spine to realign it. Looking around the room, it was as he remembered it from his dream except for Naomi, the girl he had mistaken for a statue wasn't there. The absence of an actual statue passed beneath his notice. Taking a step forward made him gasp in pain. His dick felt like he had actually been balls deep in her not a few minutes ago. "I don't think I've ever had a more realistic dream in my life. I kind of wish it hadn't been one though." Leon sighed as Naomi's beautiful smile floated through his mind. "I've _really_ got to get laid soon. And I need to find a clean pair of shorts too. Damn, what did I do? Shoot a gallon?"

As he walked through the door on the other side of the room and closed it behind him, Leon missed seeing Naomi appear out of thin air near where he had been standing. Her monologue to him was also missed. "I'm so sorry for the deception Leon. I felt you were the only guy I could trust and I wanted to experience love making at least once before I head to the other side. Always know that you made the dreams and wishes of a lonely spirit come true this evening. May the gods of good fortune smile on you from now on until your dying day. I will always love you Leon Kennedy."

Once she finished her heartfelt speech, Naomi Greene, one of the first victims of the zombie attacks in Raccoon City shed tears of joy and sorrow as the spectral Lolita faded from this plane of existence, never to return again. Eternal rest was now hers. Down the hall, Leon felt an ache in his heart that he just couldn't explain and didn't think he ever would.

------------

_'I know the Tyrant can talk but I don't think it's _that_ articulate.'_

Turning slowly around, Kasumi beheld the oddest sight she had ever, well, seen. There was a man standing where most of the wall used to be. He was wearing a mustard yellow tunic, dirty green breeches, sandals that laced up most of the way up his calves and was holding a red bamboo umbrella. His black shaggy hair was held back by a yellow bandanna with black spots, or were those stripes. He also seemed to be wearing a traveler's pack. What had made Kasumi stop was the fact that he had shouted in Japanese.

Clearing her throat and stepping closer, Kasumi decided to take a chance. "Excuse me, can I help you?" _'What the hell am I saying?!? _Can I help you?_ I sound like an idiot.'_ The young man turned to her as if he hadn't noticed she was there to begin with. His mud-brown eyes shone with embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head with a hand; incidentally it was the one holding the umbrella.

"Oh, sorry about that. Could you tell me how to get to Umbrella headquarters?"

_'Maybe talking to this guy is a mistake.'_ "Uh, why do you want to go there if you don't mind my asking?" If this guy was an operative and after her too, Kasumi didn't know how she would survive. He had just smashed through a three-foot thick wall. She didn't think bullets would do much damage. Judging by the look on his face, he didn't seem to be the brightest bulb in the chandelier actually.

"Because of Umbrella, I have seen Hell!" _'Okay, this guy needs a one-way ticket to the looney bin. Express route at that.'_ "It's because of them that I'm a freak!" Kasumi was getting more confused by the minute. She didn't think this nut was working for them, he had an obvious grudge. What he meant by freak looked to be up for interpretation. He looked to be okay to her, clinically speaking of course. Mentally healthy however was another issue altogether. "Now I'll never see Ranma ever again thanks to those monsters!" Hold the phone, did he just say _Ranma?_

"Ranma, as in _Saotome_? You _know_ Ranma?" Broken out of his rant, the weirdo remembered he wasn't alone at the moment. "Yes, that Ranma. You mean you know Ranma too?" Well, maybe talking to this guy wasn't such a mistake after all. "Of _course_ I know Ranma, we grew up together almost. Oh, where are my manners? I'm Kasumi. Kasumi Tendo." Sketching an obviously rusty bow, Kasumi waited for the return greeting.

"Ryoga. Ryoga Hibiki. It's nice to meet you. Ranma's told me about you." Their conversation would have continued except a deep animalistic growl broke in. Standing behind Ryoga was the Tyrant. "Come on Ryoga! This way!" Not giving him time to answer, Kasumi grabbed his shirt front and dragged him down the hall behind her. She had barely gotten the heavy steel door to the evidence room shut when the door bent in to meet her almost. Not giving Ryoga time to think, Kasumi kept dragging him like a ragged kite through the door into the main office, which got reduced to splinters a few seconds later as the Tyrant smashed through.

_'Christ, what does it take to slow this jerk down? At least when we get outside, we can roof-hop away. I just hope he can't follow.'_ Exiting into the main lobby, Kasumi and Ryoga saw the front doors and felt they were home free. Just past the dried-up fountain, the sound of a whoosh along with the nearly simultaneous explosion and blast of fire at their backs made Kasumi reevaluate her plans somewhat.

_'Oh _SHIT, IT'S ARMED!_'_

Closer to the door, the Tyrant shot off another round from it's bazooka, going a little past the two fleeing targets and destroying the door. A third blast followed soon after, turning the makeshift blockade someone had constructed in the front yard into scrap. Jumping over the gate, Kasumi got it into her head that the shotgun would be useful right about now. Taking the time that would have been better spent running, she pulled the old double-barrel out of her 'pocket' and jammed it into the handles. Turning around again, she grabbed Ryoga's wrist and they both hauled ass out of the area as fast as they could. The howls of rage that followed them told Kasumi that the shotgun really _had_ been useful after all.

------------

It was many hours later when there was any sort of lull in the action. Leon and Claire had found each other again and shared their experiences, leaving out some details. Leon had complimented Claire on her new outfit that she had found in a locker somewhere. The jeans would be better for running around in than the shorts she had been sporting and the sleeveless vest was stylish too. Leon told of meeting a woman named Ada Wong and when asked to describe her, Claire related her own brief almost encounter with her.

Ada herself was lost again. This time not physically but emotionally. The cop she had teamed up with for a short time had left an impression on her. She couldn't risk running into him again. The way he wouldn't leave her mind made her worry that she wouldn't be able to do her job. Now was no time for emotional attachments. It wasn't her fault that being an assassin trashed her social life. She was a woman, of course she had needs. It was obvious they weren't being met but she wouldn't let that get her down. Too much.

Sherry Birkin, the only daughter of William and Annette Birkin was terrified. The scary fat man in the office full of dead animals was talking to himself again. Her mommy had told her that if something bad happened to go to the police station. Too bad the police station was just as bad if not worse off than the rest of the town. She had seen the scary man kill that pretty girl in the white dress. He kept mumbling about how it was the only way to protect her; Sherry was glad he wasn't protecting her. As a tear escaped from the corner of her eye, young Miss Birkin fingered the pendant her mommy had given her and hoped that help would come soon.

As for Kasumi and Ryoga, the two of them were taking a well deserved break. There had been a close call earlier when the Tyrant had reappeared but it seemed to ignore them. It took the pair a while to realize that the Tyrant they saw had actually very little resemblance to the one they had run from in the station. This one's coat was dark green and it had a face without missing skin. One Tyrant was bad enough but having to deal with two was worse. She pitied whoever that one was after.

From their hiding place in an abandoned parking garage, they were able to relax somewhat and even share stories, mainly of how Umbrella had ruined their lives. Kasumi gave Ryoga a shortened version of events in her life that lead her to the present and once she finished, Ryoga took a deep breath before he began his tale.

------------

"This could take a while. I'll try not to bore you."

"That's okay Ryoga, I'll survive. Could I have some more beef jerky?"

"Sure, here you go. Before I start, tell me again why you called that thing Nemesis."

"Thank you. Well, it's actually a creation called Tyrant but this one was specifically made to kill the members of S.T.A.R.S. that survived the events at the Spencer Estate. It killed Brad and now it's after me. I feel as if it's my own personal nemesis, that's why I call it that. I sure hope Uncle Genma got out of town in time."

"Genma, that's Ranma's father right?"

"Yes that's right. So what's your story mystery man?"

"Well…"

------FlashBack------

_Years ago, when I was still going to school, I was a lot less cool-headed than I am nowadays. Most of my problems stem from my families curse. We Hibikis have the worst sense of direction imaginable and sometimes even worse tempers because of it. Not all of us are hotheads though. When we do lose our tempers however, watch out. The getting lost thing also varies. Anyway, like I said, I wasn't always that calm back then. I went to an all-boys school and lunch was always a battle. No matter what was being served, it was insanity trying to get something to eat._

_Because I was lost a lot, I would be very hungry whenever I showed up. Being a martial artist and very determined always netted me what I wanted if I could find where the lunch counter was. It was rumored that the lunch ladies were paid to rile up the students so they would be tired during the rest of their classes. I guess that makes some sense now. One day, I had just gotten the last loaf of curry bread when I realized something. Getting the bread had been too easy. There was no challenge in it, even though I had been starving._

_As a martial artist, I felt I needed to go and find an actual challenge. I wanted to improve, not wither away. So with my last meal for some time resting in my stomach, I left school. My dramatic exit was blown when I realized I had walked into a janitor's closet._

_During my wanderings, I met quite a few strange people. I'm not afraid to tell you that those midgets with the high squeaky voices I discovered really disturbed me. That Dorothy girl was nice though. She had a cute dog too._

_One day, I found myself in this ancient village in the countryside. There didn't seem to be anybody around until I heard cheering in the distance. After some searching, I found all the villagers watching two people fighting on a suspended log. I had walked in on the tail end of a tournament. A sign over by these heaps of food told me not only was the food the prize for winning, but that I was in __China__. That and the fact that everybody was speaking Chinese kind of tipped me off._

_The purple-haired girl seemed to be very skilled. She was using those bonbori like a pro against an opponent that made that Nemesis look like a fashion model. I hadn't had anything to eat since the curry bread and would have gone for the food but I didn't want to offend anyone. Once purple hair sent her opponent flying, the tournament was over. As she went over to the food a lizard on a stick hopped up to me._

_Well, at the time I thought it was a lizard. Turns out she was a village elder and the great-grandmother of the winner. I learned that the hard way. I still wince everytime I think of that damn stick of hers. Well the old woman, who told me her name was __Cologne__, asked me in Japanese what I was doing in the village. I told her I was passing through and was hoping I could get some supplies. Just then, my stomach gave away the secret that I wanted food more than anything at the moment._

_She cackled and teased me a little about that. I tried to resist turning her into a pasty smear. I almost didn't succeed. Don't get me wrong, she was a tough old bird. It turns out that the whole village was full of martial artists. Cologne was like a Grandmaster, or Mistress if you will, in the school most taught there. Amazonian Wu Shu._

_Kasumi, if you don't stop laughing, I'm not going to continue. Thank you. Would you at least stop snickering? Jeez._

_Anyway, as I was saying, __Cologne__ was pretty tough. In Chinese, she called over her great-granddaughter and told her I was challenging her for the food. Yes, I know it was a lie. Purple hair just stared at me like I was some sort of bug and snorted. I think I even heard her mumble_ "Too easy" _under her breath. What threw me for a loop was what __Cologne__ said next. Still talking to her granddaughter, she told her that I might bring strong blood into the tribe so try not to lose too badly if she wanted me for a husband._

_What's that? Oh sorry, I didn't notice. Her name was Shampoo. The husband thing? Well, the tribe was kind of isolationist and running under the misconception that males were the weaker species. They allowed that there were a few out there that were worth consideration and had their rules set up around the concept of acquiring new blood for the tribe. Should a male outsider challenge a female and win, they were supposed to receive the Kiss of Marriage._

_Hey, quit laughing! It's not_ that _funny._

_Now this whole time I'm just standing there pretending to not know what the two of them are saying. After they finished arguing, Shampoo led me to the suspended log and we both jumped up. Before we fought, I told her in Chinese that I wasn't interested in marrying her and only wanted the food. I know it was a stupid mistake. I was hungry and not thinking too clearly anyway. Shampoo got all mad and started attacking me with the intent to kill. From that first missed bonbori swing, I felt I was in love. No, not with her. With the skill she had. This little village in the middle of nowhere was able to produce someone as talented as Shampoo and I wanted in on it._

_I had found a place that I could improve in pretty much anything I could think of, a place that would allow me to hone my skills. How to get to stay there and remain single was almost beyond me. Then it hit me. I would challenge and try to defeat __Cologne__, stating my intentions ahead of time. As soon as I had knocked Shampoo out, I jumped off the log and landed in front of __Cologne__ and in a voice as loud as possible, I issued my terms. I don't know what surprised her more, the fact that I had just done so in her native language or that I had every intention to kick her wrinkled ass all over the landscape._

_The battle itself, and it was a battle, took a long time. It felt like days had passed and instead it was just over an hour. I threw every trick I could think of at her. Near the end I thought I had either blacked out or had been knocked out because when I next opened my eyes, I was lying on my back in a hut. __Cologne__ came in right then and was happy to see I was awake. She told me that I had beaten her but had collapsed from hunger. I had been out for three days and had been adopted into the tribe, my prize for winning. I had just gained a grandmother._

_As time went by, I became acclimated to village life. My win against __Cologne__ had impressed some of the Elders and pissed off others. Some of them wanted me to marry into their families and the others wanted me dead. There had even been a couple attempts on my life while I was out cold. Of course, __Cologne__ told me that later. Mostly, I was welcomed as a new member. For a time, Shampoo hated my guts because I had defeated her so easily. We came to an understanding though and she eventually became friendlier towards me. This pissed off this guy who had been obsessed with her for years._

_Mousse, that's his name, had done everything in his power to make all guys in the village leave Shampoo alone. He would always attack them even if he thought they were looking at her too long. For him, one second was way too long. It drove her mad everytime he did that. They had been friends' way back when they were little kids but his feelings for her and his screwed up attempts to express them drove a wedge between them._

_What's that? Oh, well he had terrible eyesight. Those glasses of his could start a forest fire from just a glint of sunlight, they were so thick. He always mistook her for different things. A bush, a rock, a cow, you name it and he hugged it thinking it was her. He was also the Master of Hidden Weapons and was throwing anything and everything at any guy that got too close to Shampoo. With his bad eyesight, he missed a lot. It still scared off guys but he didn't care. His intentions were clear because he used a lot of bladed and sharp objects in his attacks. He ruined a few of my shirts in the process._

_Despite the nearly constant attacks from the half blind idiot, I felt as if I had finally found a normal life. I had saved the lives of a few villagers during a flood and that just made me even more welcomed there. There was one time during the spring that this young girl ran into the village. She was panicked and crying. One of the elders, Lavender I think her name was, was nearby and stopped the girl to find out what was wrong. She told her that some men had come, attacked her father and were draining the springs. The springs were in this training ground a ways away called Jusenkyo. I had never been there but __Cologne__ had told me of it._

_To put it bluntly, I was pissed. I didn't know who these jerks were or even who the girl was. All I knew was that they had attacked an innocent and made his daughter cry. They were going to pay. As quickly as I could, I made my way there after I had her, Plum was her name, tell me the general direction to the springs. My direction sense had been strengthening thanks to meditation of all things. I was so mad I felt I would get lost three steps out the gate. I actually made it to Jusenkyo faster than I thought I would, which astounded me._

_Like I said, I had never been there but from her descriptions, __Cologne__ gave me a pretty good idea of what the place looked like. In a valley surrounded by tall mountains is a field with over a hundred springs. Almost every spring holds a curse. Yes, I said curse. Whoever falls into a spring, their body or mind changes into whatever drowned there last. Cold water activates the curse and hot water reverses it until the next splash of cold. When I got there, I saw a bunch of men dressed in biohazard suits and a lot of hoses resting in the springs. The hoses lead to the back of a truck where there were lots of containers._

_I couldn't believe these creeps would hurt someone over water, no matter how dangerous it was. I just saw red and started attacking. They were pretty amazed that I had shown up but I was more so when somebody started shooting at me. The hoses must have had a higher setting because the springs got drained quickly while I was trying to not get shot. I hadn't noticed but I had taken one in the hip early on and all my hopping around wasn't helping my wound. The last thing I remember seeing before blacking out was a red and white corporate logo on the back of the truck with the word_ 'Umbrella' _underneath it. When I came to, they were long gone and I was back in the village._

_Plum__'s father survived, he had only been given a nasty bump to the head. I almost died from blood loss. Luckily I was found in time. I swore vengeance on Umbrella then, vowing that I would not rest until they would pay for what they had done. I had no idea why they had wanted the spring water but I felt it had to be bad. As soon as I had recovered, I got ready to set out. Shampoo tried her hardest to convince me to stay. You name it and she tried it. The thing she tried that seemed mostly out of desperation ended up with us both losing our virginity to each other. She told me she had fallen in love with me and didn't want me to leave. I was torn then. I needed to get revenge for the guide and his daughter but I also wanted to explore the feelings that had been awakened from what had happened with Shampoo._

_Cologne__ knew I was feeling at odds and made the suggestion that Shampoo go with me. My direction sense had improved but it wasn't foolproof and having her around would be a big help. Of course Shampoo jumped at the chance. She had never been outside of the village except to go to nearby training areas. I kind of had my doubts about the whole thing. I didn't voice them though because I felt it was a good idea too._

_We set out a couple months later. As our search went on over time, Shampoo started acting strange. She would either cry over the littlest things or snap at me for something I didn't even know had offended her and then bawl her eyes out for yelling at me, apologizing profusely. It wasn't until we had visited a doctor in __Hong Kong__ when we found out what was going on. Shampoo was pregnant._

_There's a saying I heard once,_ 'You could have knocked me over with a feather.' _It applied just then. The girl I had come to realize that I loved as much as she loved me was going to be the mother of my child. Of course I was scared shitless and ecstatically happy at the same time. What guy that finds out he's going to be a dad isn't? Shampoo had pretty much the same reaction I did. It's like they say,_ 'Life is what happens when you make other plans.'

_We were able to get a pretty decent apartment in the city and I was also able to get a job. I won't bore you with the day to day stuff but we spent quite a long time in __Hong Kong__. A few months after we had gotten there, Shampoo gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She named her Lilly, after her mother. A couple months before that though, Shampoo and I became husband and wife in a simple ceremony. It may have been all we could afford at the time but we didn't care. It was good enough for us because we had each other and that is all that mattered._

_It was a few more months before Lilly was strong enough to travel and we continued our journey. We followed every lead we could, trying to find Umbrella. A few times we had come close. Then one day, while in __Cleveland__ following another rumor, we hit paydirt. There was an old abandoned army base there that had been bought by Umbrella and word from the underground was that they were experimenting with some strange water. That is what sealed it for us. We had finally gotten our chance._

------Pause FlashBack------

"Sorry for stopping so suddenly but I just realized something."

"What's that Ryoga?"

"Well, I've been talking for a while and I _REALLY_ need to go to the bathroom. Do you know where one is?"

"There's one over there by the stairwell."

"Thanks, I'll be right back. Oh, before I forget, here are some pictures you might like to see. They're of me and my family."

"Thank you, I'll look them over while you're gone."

As Ryoga headed off to the men's room and relief, Kasumi started looking through the photos. The first one was of an obviously younger Ryoga standing next to a very pregnant young woman in a Chinese dress. Both looked nervous but happy. Ryoga had his arm around her shoulder and she had her head resting against his chest. _'This must be Shampoo. She's very pretty.'_ The next photo had been taken the same day because this time they were kissing in it _'I guess this is their wedding.'_

Picture after picture revealed nuances to the story Ryoga had been telling her. Lilly looked like an angel. She had gotten most of her looks from her mother but had little fangs like her father in the pictures where she was older. Then there were some shots that were a little confusing. In them, sometimes with Ryoga, Shampoo or even Lilly was a redheaded girl. Kasumi didn't know her but felt as if she should. There was just something about her eyes.

The ones with the redhead had been taken over a weekend it looked like. There were very few changes between the people shown except for clothes. Whoever she was, she was obviously a friend to the Hibikis. The expressions on their faces were evidence of that. There was also an aspect of tiredness in the adults' eyes. All three of them looked like they had just gone through the wringer a few times. _'Maybe she fights against Umbrella too. I know I've had that look lately.'_

Once Kasumi got to the last picture, Ryoga came back. "So, what do you think?" Looking at him, she replied, "Your wife is very beautiful and your daughter is too. You must feel very lucky." Sitting down and taking the pictures back, he said, "Yeah, I do. Shampoo is my heart and soul. Lilly is my angel. I don't know what I would do without them in my life."

"I thought you would get lost or something. How come you didn't this time?"

"Like I said, meditation. I still can get lost now and again but that's if I'm really irritated or upset like when we met earlier. So where was I in my story?"

"Cleveland."

"Oh right. Well then…"

------Resume FlashBack------

_Thanks to a man named __Trent__, we had gained maps of the base. What we didn't have was a babysitter. Lilly knew of our self-imposed mission and didn't want either of us to go. We've never held anything back from her because we feel it's better to be honest. She's also pretty good at manipulating us. It was decided that Shampoo would stay behind and take care of Lilly while I checked out the base itself._

_I was able to sneak onto the base easily since most of it wasn't even being used. It was a clear night with a full moon but rain had been predicted to start falling around __midnight__. Checking the barracks first had been a mistake. The smell of rot and the buzzing of flies nearly made me lose my dinner. In almost every building were corpses in various states of decay. The men and women I found had been gunned down. All the inner walls of the buildings had bullet holes and lots of them except for by the door. My next stop was the motor pool._

_I found nearly the same thing there. I also found a few trucks and jeeps in various states of disrepair. There were only two vehicles that were fully functional. I made a note to come back here in case I needed to make a quick getaway. Almost every building on the base, from the P.X. to the offices was filled with the dead. I was starting to believe I was either going around in circles or there wasn't all that much here. Boy was I wrong._

_In the medical center, I found a secret elevator that took me five stories down. Once the doors opened, I stepped out into what I thought was a hospital corridor. At first I thought my direction problem had flared up until I heard the footsteps. Down the hall to my left was a sort of shuffling and moaning. There was also a smell that I first encountered in those barracks up top._

_When I got closer, the footsteps changed to wet splashes and chewing sounds. The moans got louder too. There were about seven of them, eating someone or something. All I know was there was a lab coat stained with blood under the pile. A gasp made me look up. Standing across from me with the buffet from Hell between us was a redheaded girl. I guess my sudden appearance startled her because she ran off as soon as we made eye contact._

_I called out to her to stop but that just made the diners notice me. My umbrella had never gotten so much of a workout. Once I finished beating them all down so they wouldn't get up again, I set off to find the girl. The keycard I stepped on before heading off gave me a good idea of where to check first. It said_ 'Lab 3.'

_According to the map, Lab 3 was in the same general direction where the girl ran off to. I got turned around a couple of times but soon found my way again with little trouble. Lab 3 looked to be some sort of clean room. There were six huge tubes full of what looked like water and were big enough to hold a full grown man that stretched to the ceiling along the back wall, a long metal top table with sinks and gas leads installed, glass-faced cabinets full of bottles and jars of liquids and pills of different colors, a desk with papers strewn all over and around it, more beakers than I could count and a huge dark stain by the door._

_The papers told me that some of the resident eggheads had discovered a naturally occurring virus living right in the water Umbrella had stolen. Also according to the notes was proof the virus was almost a complete match to the T-Virus as they called it, except the properties were different and they didn't know why the decomposition didn't occur. What they didn't know and something I had discovered on my own was the T-Virus was a lab mutated version of the Ebola Virus, worked on by some guys named Wesker and Birkin back during the 70's and 80's._

_I even found a diary by one of the workers that had been running experiments on animals with the water. It described how monkeys were given injections of partial samples of different springs to see what would happen. One test was a complete success when they mixed the Nyanniichuan, that's the spring of Drowned Girl, and the spring of Drowned Pervert. Yes, I said pervert. It's a mind changing spring._

_The scientist had named her Jenny and the two of them were going to run away together but not before he tried to trash the whole facility. He failed of course. While I was reading the diary, I heard a noise behind me and thought it was the girl. It wasn't, not even close. It was the_ biggest _damn spider I had even seen in my life. I didn't even get a chance to shout out in fright when the thing smacked me into one of the tubes all the way across the room. The glass cracked but didn't break just then. Then the spider leapt at me and knocked me into the tube again and this time the glass shattered._

_All I noticed was a tingling sensation all over my body and an increase in my strength as the water washed over me. That and my temper was about to get the best of me but I maintained calm as best I could and beat that damn arachnid to death. When I finished, I looked up and saw a black-haired guy giving me a measuring look, like he didn't know what to make of me. I snarled at him,_ "You want some of this too?!" _and his eyebrows shot up into his hairline. I guess he didn't expect me to say anything and that's when I noticed my voice._

"Wha-what the hell happened to my voice?" _I murmured quietly. The guy just said,_ "I think you should be more concerned about your looks right now." _I was confused and it showed in my face I'm sure. When I looked at him again, he just pointed to my left and I saw in a mirror a thing out of a nightmare. It was too much for me and I just fainted right then and there._

_When I came to, I was on a hospital bed and the guy and girl were hovering over me. When they saw I was awake, the girl smiled and the guy let out a relieved sigh. I asked them what was happening and they filled me in. It turns out that the facility was going to be destroyed until the discovery of the water was made and it was earmarked as the testing area. The military applications of the T-Virus as I'm sure you know are to not only destroy the enemy but to also make them into an unstoppable army for whoever unleashes it to begin with. This virus, that I got infected with, was made for infiltration purposes._

_With just a slight application of cold water, an operative has a perfect disguise. The only problem is that there are so few springs that change someone into a human. That's why some of them had been mixed or spliced with other strains of genetic code. The girl, who turned out to be Jenny, was going to run away with her boyfriend but there was an accident and the T-Virus ended up taking over most of the staff. He was the one being feasted upon earlier._

_The guy, who told me his name was Ranma, had been abducted and taken to the underground lab as a test subject. He also had been infected with what had been dubbed the J-Virus. I'll jump ahead a little because some things have no real impact on what I'm telling you right now. Jenny, Ranma and I decided that we needed to get out of there but we also needed to destroy the place first. Any and all forms of notes or letters or whatever that had the appearance of being even vaguely important were also collected._

_It took a while but we had made it. As we drove off in one of the jeeps I had found, while Jenny was asleep in the back Ranma told me that he couldn't stick around and had to find you to warn you. Some higher-up in Umbrella knew of you and your teammates and was planning some sort of attack, what was named_ 'Poetic Justice.' _When the three of us got back to my home, Ranma used my computer scanner to input a hardcopy file into it and told me that I should keep my own version of it on me in case I ever ran into you._

_He left two days later headed to __Raccoon__City__. That was the last I heard from him. Jenny stayed with Shampoo, Lilly and me for some time before she also headed off, in her case to Vegas and anonymity. We haven't heard from her since and hope she is safe._

------End FlashBack------

"So, you're infected? What do you turn into?"

Giving a sigh and running his fingers through his hair, Ryoga asked, "You promise not to scream?" Getting a nod in confirmation, Ryoga lifted a blue thermos out of his pack and tilted it over his head. "Um, shouldn't you _open_ that first?" Kasumi asked while trying to suppress her mirth.

"Oops." Ryoga blushed and then opened the thermos and poured the contents over his head. The change was so sudden, Kasumi felt she had blinked as Ryoga's form shifted and grew before her. Where a young man sitting before her used to be, there was now a creature that could only be described as a mix of human and boar. Dark short black fur covered every exposed area she could see. His face was now more animalistic than man except for the eyes and still slightly normal shaped head. Two thick tusks thrust out of his lower jaw and his upper fangs were also thicker and longer.

_"Cool!"_

_"Huh?"_ Ryoga was puzzled. Had she just shouted the word _'Cool?'_ Oh well, it was better than screaming. At least his family felt the same as Kasumi seemed to. His daughter Lilly had said exactly the same thing the first time she had seen him transform. Shampoo's reaction had been more subdued until they went to bed that night. Because of her later reaction in their bedroom, Ryoga came to terms with the curse as he called it easier than if he had been alone in the world. He stilled owed Umbrella for it though and they _were_ going to suffer, make no mistake.

Pouring water from a red thermos on his head, he changed back and gave Kasumi a serious look. "Thanks for not screaming. Like I promised Ranma, here is the file he found. I think you should read it now before we do anything else. I'll go patrol while you do." Handing her a sheaf of papers from his pack, Ryoga then stood and headed off in a random direction while resting his umbrella on his shoulder. Kasumi watched him walk off then started to read.

------------

**To:** _Umbrella HQ_

**From:** _Ozwell Spencer III_

**Re:** _Kobe__ Mistake_

_Gentlemen, as you know, over 20 years ago one of our earlier experiments with variations of the T-Virus were stumbled upon by three nosy individuals. Unfortunately, only one of them had been found years later. Steps had been taken and petty though they may have been, all but one of the family members was dealt with. This was discovered by Albert Wesker, an operative in the data/information section when he made the connection to a new recruit to the S.T.A.R.S. team he headed in __Raccoon__City__ and one of the individuals in question._

_Thanks again to the recruit, one Kasumi Tendo, my grandfather's estate and more importantly the lab, was demolished because of her meddling. I need not remind you that the loss of Wesker was nothing to really worry about but his no longer having control over that psychopath police chief Brian Irons hurt us greatly. I have been thinking on this matter a great deal lately. What can be done to quiet Miss Tendo and the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members permanently?_

_Like a bolt out of the blue, it hit me. The Tyrant program. Currently, the creation of a Tyrant still requires a_ "volunteer" _as a base for the body. Our old friend Emilio Sharpe discovered this only too well. It's a shame he was destroyed during the incident at the Arklay lab but such is science. We learned from our mistakes and moved on._

_I have been toying with the notion that the old_ 'Nemesis Plan' _be reinstated for the task I'm proposing. With the proper subject, it could finally become a success. I will be sending my full proposal shortly after this memo finds its way to you. With your approval, I shall continue my research._

_Signed,_

_Ozwell Spencer III_

_'Nemesis Plan? My God, if they had something like that already in the works there's no telling what else they might have. And who's this Ozwell Spencer the Third?'_

_Private Journal of Ozwell Spencer III_

_July 20th_

_Damn them all!!!_

_How dare they do this to me!_ ME!!! _My grandfather was one of the founding members of this company and this is how they treat me? Sticking me in some damnable underground hell where my nearest neighbors are the_ FUCKING WORMS!!!

_I've contributed_ more _to research and development than my father and grandfather_ combined _and they store me away like some common lackey! There's absolutely_ no _strategic value here and all we're doing is busy work. If they don't need me anymore, why don't they just put a bullet in my brain and be done with it._

_Those old men on the board are getting too fat and complacent. If they're not careful, one day they may find themselves in more trouble than they ever thought to be. I guarantee it._

_'Wow. This guy has some issues.'_

_Private Journal of Ozwell Spencer III_

_July 28th_

_Those fat fools almost bought their own deaths. A few days ago, I was told that this facility may be shut down. I'm here barely a week and they wanted to shut it down? What the_ fuck _are they using for brains,_ cow manure? _Thanks to a discovery in __China__, this damned place has been issued a reprieve._

_Water, of all things, is being sent here for testing. This water is supposed to have so-called transformative properties. I'll believe it when I see it._

_Addendum-_

_I've seen it and I_ still _don't believe it. An accident occurred during transport and one of the containers broke open, splashing three men in the process. Fortunately the water was saved but if any of those men had wives, well, let's hope they're bi is all I'll say. The transformation is supposed to be temporary but nobody knows how to reverse it._ Yet.

_Second Addendum-_

_Hot water seems to be the key to reversing the process. An accident in the employee snack room with a faulty coffee urn proved this. Luckily, no one was scalded. This water from some unknown little nowhere called Jusenkyo is more interesting than I first believed it to be. Cold water is the activator. The three unfortunates are going through a complete physical as I write this to determine how extensive the change is. When they realized the physical included their new bodies, their panicked screaming was actually hilarious._

_I don't envy them one bit. Even if I had been born female, I would hate the idea of having to get a gynecological exam. I shudder just thinking of it. Believe me when I say, I have a new respect for women right now._

_July 30th_

_What the_ hell _is going on? I've just received word from headquarters that there was some sort of accident at my grandfather's estate. I know they've been trying to improve on the mortality rate of the T-Virus there. From what I heard, there was some sort of outbreak and a few_ "subjects" _escaped in the confusion. Hopefully this was all blown out of proportion once I heard about it but I doubt that highly._

_To think, I don't even_ open _this journal for years and something like_ this _happens. I know I should write the year when I date these entries but I don't really care. All that matters now is that the outbreak is contained and the missing virus carriers are recovered. I doubt I could do anything even if I was there. Right now I'm glad I'm not._

_August 8th_

_As I suspected, things got worse._

_Some of the escapees, altered Dobermans I believe, attacked some hikers in the mountains._ That's _not the worst part. The worst part is that it actually made the local paper. The puppet police chief, Irons, is trying to placate the citizens of Raccoon but I doubt they will stay calm for long. Some might even try to find answers to questions they have no right to ask._

_This, as my father would have put it, is a_ 'major cock-up.' _If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was_ allowed _to happen._

_August 27th_

_Ever since the discovery of a naturally occurring virus in the Jusenkyo water a few years ago, experiments have been run nonstop to figure out why it was there to begin with. Altering its base structure seems to alter the waters properties as well. An individual will still be affected by the water but what they change into can sometimes vary depending on what happened to the virus._

_Something else was discovered some time ago. Should an individual be doused with the cursed water, the change can be reversed with the appropriate counter. If forcefully introduced to the bloodstream, the change is permanent. This doesn't apply if a cut, healing or otherwise is already present or one is created at the time of the first dousing._

_The unpredictable nature of the spring waters makes it nearly impossible to be used as planned. Also, the fact that there are so few springs that change a person but keep them human is no help either. More experimentation is needed._

_For what seemed like hours, Kasumi read through the journal. Page after page described what to most would seem to be a fairy tale but she knew better. She knew the odd things that Umbrella could unleash all too well. Kasumi felt her blood run cold when reading the descriptions of some particularly brutal_ "experiments." _She just hoped that wherever Ranma was, he would have enough sense to stay the hell away from __Raccoon__City__. There was no doubt in her mind that things were about to heat up._

------------

Author's Notes:

Well, I've finally updated. There are actually a couple reasons why it took so long. First off, I lost inspiration and interest in the story and couldn't bring myself to make the attempt of writing. That's one of the reasons a lot of writers just don't finish stories.

The other reason is because my health took a major nosedive after I released the last chapter. I ended up with a bad case of pneumonia and was laid up for some time. After that, on the 22nd of December, my appendix burst and I didn't realize it till I was admitted into a hospital on the 23rd. It was taken out the next day and I was released on the 28th. What's worse is that it had been gangrenous for months. I wonder if this is how Celeste Byrd died. It's a shame a talented writer like her passed on.

Anyway, I'm still around and I have some of my inspiration back. Too bad I'm still lazy so chapters will be few and far between. I've already got ideas for the next one though. Unfortunately, I don't own any of the characters used, except for Keiko and the brief appearance of Naomi Greene. I can promise you this much, Ranma will show up in the next chapter and that's all I'm saying about that.

Thanks to kami-of-chaos for the uplifting review on and thanks go to DogbertCarol, hope I spelled that right, for the recent glut of reviews as well. I'm glad you like my stuff. As always, remember my motto, "My fic, my rules." See you in the funny papers.


	4. Chapter 3

Retribution for the Damned

by DigiSim

Chapter 3

* * *

"I hate to tell you this, but I think we're lost." 

"Oh _great_ Ranma, that's all I needed. How did this happen?"

"Don't go yelling at me Grey, it's not my fault."

"Not your fault! How can it _not_ be your fault? You're _supposed_ to be the navigator of this little journey. You're in charge of the map, _remember?_"

With an exasperated sigh, Ranma slumped down in the passenger seat of the Ford pickup and threw the aforementioned map down at his feet. The Army Jeep had broken down a few days after he left Ryoga and Shampoo back in Ohio. He had been mainly wandering around the country, trying to find how to get to Raccoon City, wherever the hell that was. Somehow he had ended up in Arizona of all places. That's where he met Grey.

Grey Wulfe was a Southern California native, but sometimes went by the name Akira Kusanagi. Ranma was surprised to find a Caucasian using a Japanese name. Grey explained to him that he had been adopted by a Japanese family long ago during his high school years while part of a student exchange program. The circumstances of the adoption were a little odd. Grey, a practitioner of the Art since he was quite young, had Ranma's talent at analyzing skills and being able to perform them almost flawlessly after one or two viewings with a bit of practice.

He had been watching the daughter of the Martial Arts family he was staying with, Yamiko who he sometimes called Miko, practicing a few times. He had unconsciously picked up some moves that were strictly to be used by true students of the family's school. One day while he practiced, he pulled a few of the moves off during a particularly complicated kata while Miko's dad watched. After finishing, the man complimented him on his skill but told him that what he did, using the special moves, was forbidden to outsiders of the school. Ever since a thief stole some secret scrolls while his father had been sensei of the dojo, a perverted little troll named Happosai had done the deed, the Kusanagis had been cautious of who learns what.

Takeru then gave him two options. One was to never use any of those moves again. The other was to be brought into the family as a son. Grey of course chose the second option but never made mention that a third option, that being to marry Miko, was never voiced. The adoption _itself_ automatically gave him dual citizenship as well. Hence the usage of the name Akira, that and because Miko called him that when they first met. It was easier for her than saying Grey since the way she pronounced it made her sound Australian.

Since the base styles of both of their respective schools was Kempo, though Grey's had a Jeet Kune Do flavoring, the two became fast friends. Ranma was glad to finally be able to have someone he could seriously spar with after so long, Ryoga notwithstanding. He was afraid his skills were going to start to deteriorate if he didn't have anyone to practice with. Grey was just glad to have someone to talk to. What was odd was the fact that they had the same tastes in hair styles. Grey's pigtail reached down to just below his shoulders. If he had dyed it black instead of leaving it in its natural dark brown state, there would be no way to tell the difference between the two young men from behind.

Their eyes were also similar, though Grey's were a more oceanic blue while Ranma's were closer to steel. Grey also knew of Ranma's problem. He discovered it by accident one day while the two of them were at a booth of some greasy spoon in the middle of nowhere. An accidentally tipped over glass of water revealed a stunning, and _stacked_, red haired young girl. That led to Grey learning of the Umbrella Corporation. He had never heard of them before, but from what Ranma told him of what he knew, Grey felt they were bad news.

Ranma was happy that Grey didn't think of him as a freak. He was already somewhat used to his condition but was still sensitive about it too. When he had been abducted some time ago, the water he had been doused with that gave him the curse had been altered by the scientists. Just regular Nyanniichuan would have made water drawn to him in the strangest ways. He was glad he wasn't a water magnet. That would have been too weird for words. The J-Virus version had also enhanced his senses in both forms as well as increased his strength, speed and endurance. He was on the verge of collapse when Grey had come by in his truck and found him.

Currently, Grey was driving the truck through a winding mountain road. The further along he went, the more the weather seemed to keep trying to turn him back by getting worse. That wasn't an option since the pickup was running on fumes at that point. As he was grumbling about being stuck in the middle of nowhere, he drove by a road sign proclaiming a town was near. Unfortunately it had gone by too fast for him to read the name. Looking askance at Ranma, he saw that the pigtailed youth had his eyes closed so asking him if he had read the sign was out.

Flicking on the brights to hopefully cut through the thick fog, Grey saw another sign, this one advertising the standard Gas Food Lodging that peppered America's highways and byways. Praising his luck, Grey reached over to nudge Ranma's shoulder and tell him of the sign. All he got was a grunt in reply but it sounded relieved. The two of them had been on the road for _far_ too long and they could really use a break. Hopefully the fog would burn off so they could see what kind of town they were heading for.

* * *

After crossing over a bridge that seemed to go on forever and passing a bowling alley and gas station, both appearing to be closed, the truck pulled into the parking lot of a motel. Shutting off the engine, Grey collected the keys and got out while Ranma grabbed the maps from the glove compartment and the one still on the floor. Checking in was no problem since the motel had quite a few vacancies. After snagging their things from the back of the Ford, the two headed in to their room. 

The first thing both noticed was the bed, as in singular. Grey had specifically asked for a room with two beds and wondered why the motel manager was trying to screw him over. He would have gone to kick the guy's ass but he was too tired to care just then. Ranma didn't care that much either, all he wanted was sleep.

Hours later revealed a strange sight. Ranma, who was lying on his right side, was being spooned by Grey. Grey had his left arm draped over Ranma's side and his hand was being held by Ranma's. He then snuggled a little closer and sleepily kissed the top of Ranma's left ear. This woke the black-haired young man a little.

"Grey?"

"Hmmm?"

"Why the hell did you just kiss my ear?"

"Why the hell are you holding my hand?"

"Where's your other hand?"

"Between two pillows."

"Those **_AREN'T PILLOWS!_**"

Immediately, the two sprung from the bed and started writhing and dancing while making nauseated noises, shivering all the while. Pretty soon, the noises turned to conversation.

"You see that Bears game Ranma?"

"Hell of a game, hell of a game. They got a great team this year."

"Yeah, they could go all the way."

"I'm gonna go grab a shower."

"You do that."

As Ranma headed off into the bathroom, Grey sat on the bed and tried to calm his roiling stomach. The last time something like that happened to him had been when his friend from school, Kenji, snuck into his room at the Kusanagis and slipped into his bed. The guy was nice enough but him doing that had creeped him out. He didn't know what had bothered him more, that what just happened had happened at all or that he wished Ranma had been in his girl-form at the time. In the shower, the same types of thoughts were going through Ranma's mind. Was the virus taking over his psyche or was it something more? Something he just didn't want to face about himself.

* * *

Stepping out of the bathroom while pulling a clean T-shirt over his head, Grey spotted Ranma at the only table in the room checking out the map of the town that he had picked up in the manager's office when they had first arrived. Heaving a sigh as he sat in the chair opposite Ranma's after tucking the hem of the shirt into his black jeans, he looked at his friend expectantly. Deciding to break the silence himself, he asked, "So what's the news?" 

"Well," Ranma began, "according to the map here, the road we came into town on, Nathan Avenue, cuts straight through this part of town and leads back out to Pleasant River 73 County which has a couple of the roads that leads to Brahms, the next town over, running through it which is one _hell_ of a shortcut. I checked it out while you were in the shower and found out we can't use it. Seems there is some sort of construction going on and the street looks like it buckled." He pointed to the appropriate spot on the map while continuing. "Also, in case you were curious, it's still foggy out there. I could barely see three feet in front of my face. But _that's_ not the weird part. The weird part is that the fog is _totally_ dry. It's more like a heavy smoke than an actual fog. Also, I swear it started snowing as I was coming back here. Oh yeah, one other thing, there were some strange noises coming from somewhere but like I said the fog is too thick to see anything clearly."

Giving Ranma a deadpan stare, Grey spoke. "From what the manager told me, the gas station we passed on the way in hasn't been open in a long time. It's not that they're out of gas, it's because the guy that ran the place disappeared a while ago. From what he says, the cops tried to cover it up to keep people from freaking out but most just ignored it altogether. The only reason he cares is because the guy was his brother-in-law. Oh, that reminds me." Grey got up and went to pick up his denim jacket and then started searching through the pockets. "Found 'em."

Turning around, he tossed some keys to Ranma who caught them with ease. "What are these for, the gas station?"

Giving an "Mm-hmm" in response, Grey slipped on his jacket and sat back down in the chair. "Got them from the manager. At least we've got something going our way. Once we fill the tank, we'll take off. I don't know about you man, but there's something about this place that just sets my teeth on edge."

* * *

Genma was making good time running across the rooftops of the town. Why he hadn't thought of doing this earlier was beyond him. It wasn't that important though. Right now, he needed to get to his friend's shop before he could leave town. Robert Kendo owned a gun store just down the block from the back entrance of the police station. A visit to see how Robert was doing and to pick up some supplies was definitely in order. 

The first thing he noticed from his rooftop vantage point was the wrecked tanker truck. Flames from the crash had spread to block off access to the area from the road and luckily hadn't affected the surrounding buildings much just yet. Genma actually didn't know how long ago the crash occurred. The next thing he noticed was the streets were far from deserted. There were zombies trapped in the blocked-off area around Robert's shop wandering around and one of them was obviously Robert himself, or at least what was left of him.

The front window of the store was smashed in with a smeared trail of blood leading from the opening. That must be how they had gotten him. Despite the danger to himself, Genma knew he had no choice but to check things out. Hunching over, Genma cloaked himself in the Umi-Sen-Ken, making himself completely invisible to all forms of detection. He then proceeded to leap across the space from one roof to the next and landed soundlessly far from the edge. A crackling and crunching sound made him pause as he was about to go to the storefront and jump down. Before he knew what happened, the area of the roof he was standing on betrayed him and plunged into the store, taking Genma with it.

The Martial Artist tried to control his fall as best he could but ended up landing wrong behind one of the counters, spraining his left ankle in the process. The sudden sharp twinge startled him enough that he unknowingly dropped his invisibility cloak and fell to the floor, gasping in pain. The zombies inside were surprised, if zombies could be surprised, to suddenly sense a living being in their presence. All they cared about was that a meal had arrived. It didn't matter how it had gotten there, all that mattered was that they were going to get to feed.

* * *

Refueling the Ford was an easy task. The main building at the Texxon station had a convenience store inside so the two grabbed whatever looked fresh along with what would keep the longest. When Grey returned the keys to Jack's Inn, the manager told him he would keep their room ready just in case. Giving a glare to counter the obese man's smug grin, the pig-tailed man left the office, got into his truck and drove off. 

Thanks to the map and the earlier check made by Ranma, the near twins knew they couldn't use Nathan Avenue so they had to find an alternate route. A huge problem then presented itself. Both Katz Street and Saul Street that would usually cut across town was blocked off, either by the street being a sink hole or a giant wall of steel pipes and plastic tarps being in the way. Even Munson Street, which led south to another part of the town, was blocked off by the weird looking construction wall. Sadly Rendell Street, which led out of town, wasn't an option. The guys were getting sick of this quickly and decided to just take the bridge back out of town. Nathan Avenue connected to Sandford Street which wound around Toluca Lake. From there they could go to Bachman Road and straight out through an older part of the town.

Unfortunately, that way was _also_ not an option. Grey had to slam on the brakes before he almost crashed into a line of cement dividers that someone had blocked off both lanes of the bridge with. As they got out of the truck, they discovered why the dividers were there. Somehow, the bridge had collapsed. Grey and Ranma were now effectively stuck. Ranma's bellow of rage just then revealed two things. One, somehow he had gained the ability to create ki attacks, probably something having to do with the J-Virus. Two, they weren't alone.

Ranma had been standing by the rear of the truck facing left so when he had shouted, the ball of angry red ki had flown across the road and illuminated what appeared to be a body lying on the ground. It also struck something that gave out a howl like a metal sheet being torn in two and fell off the side of the bridge. Grey would have made a comment but the body drew his attention more than his friend's newfound talent. He'd figure out how to do the attack later but would need a little time and patience to do it as easily as Ranma had done so just then. At the moment, there was something more important on his mind. Grabbing a flashlight from the truck, he switched it on and slowly walked over to the cadaver. He knew it wasn't someone that was still alive from the distance he had been when first seeing it. Anyone knew people usually need to have a head to stay alive and all this guy had was a bloody pulp.

Ranma was looking over the side of the bridge where the thing had fallen when he heard the footsteps. Turning, he saw Grey getting close to and then kneeling next to a dead body. The flashlight's beam revealed that the carcass was a disgustingly mangled mess. The smell, not unlike rotting meat and sour milk, made his stomach evacuate the Cherry Coke and Snickers he had consumed a few minutes ago. Then he realized the smell wasn't coming from the stiff, but from behind him. Spinning around, his shout of surprise birthed another blast of ki, this time a yellow beam of fear that lanced out and disintegrated what gave the impression of being two pairs of very sexy and nude women's legs attached at the waist with a small amount of torso shared between them. The creature also had a slimy sheen to it's skin before it was immolated.

"What _was_ that thing?" The sudden voice behind him made him whirl about and almost vaporize Grey. Luckily he was able to hold back.

"DON'T **_DO _**THAT!" barked Ranma. Without realizing it, Grey had just hopped back and stood on his right leg while the left was raised and bent slightly at the knee. His arms were in an 'I surrender' pose while the fingers of both hands shifted into warding gestures, his index and pinkie fingers raised with his thumbs pointed out and the middle and ring fingers curled down.

"Okay, _okay_ there's no need to yell. I'm sorry I startled you." Grey then relaxed his pose and walked by Ranma who was taking a few deep, cleansing breaths to examine the greasy smear left by the thing Ranma had blasted. Playing the beam from the flashlight over the smoking spot on the road didn't reveal much. Whatever the thing had been, it was street pizza now. Turning around, Grey headed back to the truck with Ranma following him.

"Well, it looks like we're going to be here for a while," Ranma thought aloud. Grey just gave a non-committal grunt while climbing back into the driver's side of the pickup. Holding back a sigh, Ranma climbed in the passenger side and just stared out the side window as his friend turned the truck around and drove back to the motel.

* * *

"Mom, can I talk to you?" 

Hearing the question from her only child, Shampoo Hibiki closed the Stephen King novel she had been reading after putting in a bookmark, placed it on the end table next to her and turned towards her daughter. "Of course sweetheart, what do you want to talk about?" With her husband gone for the past couple of weeks, Shampoo was missing Ryoga terribly but knew he would return sooner or later. Right now her little girl needed her and talking to her was a better way to pass the time than reading about a haunted mountain hotel. _'I still like the movie better.'_

"What can you tell me about Grandma?" Shampoo blinked a couple times in confusion. Why did her daughter want to know about her mother? She then said as much. "Well, I had a weird dream."

"What kind of dream sweetheart?" Lilly then proceeded to tell her mother of the green-haired woman that had visited her in the night. She explained that the woman told her that she looked like her daughter. The woman had also told her that Lilly's grandmother was the last of her kind and that she herself was one of her heirs. They had talked for hours about a long-dead race and the powers that Lilly would inherit in a few weeks with her upcoming birthday. Shampoo had heard this all before. The mysterious woman, who turned out to be her own grandmother, had visited her in her own dreams when she was just a little girl. Apparently things were more serious if she was trying to awaken the powers that rested inside her little Lilly like had been done for her so long ago.

Rising from the armchair, Shampoo headed into the family room while Lilly followed her. She then started searching through a desk drawer looking for, ah, there it was. Turning around and facing her child, Shampoo then held out a photo to her. Lilly took it and saw what looked to be two people dressed in Amazonian wedding garb. One was a young version of her grandfather ShanPeine. The other was obviously her grandmother. The photo was actually just a picture taken of Shampoo's parent's wedding portrait.

"Hey mom, when did the Amazons get this kind of technology?" Lilly was puzzled. Hadn't her mother always told her that her '_sisters_' lived out in the wilds of China in an isolated village? "Don't be ridiculous dear. Times change and people come and go. That picture was taken by my cousin, Fu La Shu. She married a man from Kodak when he defeated her accidentally by blinding her while taking pictures of Jusenkyo. It's a good thing she didn't get cursed because she was practicing at the time." Lilly then turned the picture over and looked at the back. Sure enough, the picture was printed on Kodak paper. _Cool_, so _that's_ where all their money was coming from. No wonder they were able to move from place to place so easily.

Turning the photo over again, Lilly studied her grandmother's features. She could easily see that the woman claiming to be her great-grandmother was right. The last time she had seen eyes and hair like that was in her bathroom mirror this morning. Looking up at her mom she could see easily what she might look like once she got older, minus the fangs of course. She just hoped she would never end up looking like her great-great-great Grandmother Cologne. She loved her dearly but always had to suppress the urge to call her, for some strange reason, Old Ghoul. Handing back the picture, Lilly sat on the nearby couch while her mom retrieved more photos from the desk and then sat next to her. Before she could start her story, a knocking sound was heard.

"Excuse me dear, I won't be a minute." Shampoo then got up again and headed to the front door. Opening it revealed her next-door neighbor. He was a somewhat stout American man in his early to mid-thirties, his hair in a brush cut and glasses with a thick black frame resting comfortably on his round face. He was the head of personnel at a local department store in downtown. "Hey Drew, what can I do for you?"

"Hey Shampoo, I was wondering if you could watch my house for me. I'm going to be leaving town to go to a seminar and I'll be gone for a while." Drew was a nice enough guy. Ever since the Hibiki's moved into the area, he had done everything he could to make them feel welcome. His two friends however creeped Shampoo out a little. Lilly called them Oddball and Loser behind their backs in a mockery of their real names. Shampoo agreed with her daughter's assessment of the two men but told her to _never_ call them that; to their faces anyway. She also wondered when Drew would finally break down and ask that nice woman Kate to marry him.

"Sure Drew, it's no problem. You got a spare key for me?" After the particulars were settled, Shampoo went back to the living room and Lilly. The two spent the next few hours looking at photos and Lilly learning more about her family then she thought she ever would. Her dreams that night were filled with strange people, some that were almost monstrous in nature as well as another visit from the green-haired woman. The next few weeks just might prove to be interesting if her dreams were of any indication.

* * *

Edgar Day was a nobody. His thin, lanky frame would usually go unnoticed in a crowd. Despite the fact that he topped his height at around 6'6", he still was pretty much invisible. He wasn't a loser by any stretch of the imagination. Sure his shaggy dirty-blonde hair had turned a few women's eyes his way and his soulful brown puppy dog eyes kept them interested, he was still a nobody. 

In high school, he met a girl named Angela Cortez. She was taken with him immediately. Unfortunately, the school jock, Walter Reems, also had his eye on her. And whatever Walter wanted, he got. Walter and Edgar had been at each other's throats for years. Edgar hated Walter with a passion and the feeling was more than mutual. The beatings Edgar received at Walter's cruel fists were always vicious. Just like Walter. His nickname on the football team was Mad Dog. The fact that Angela always came to Edgar's rescue just incensed Walter more. And the beatings continued.

One day they stopped completely. Walter was wailing on Edgar for the kiss he saw Angela give him. It wasn't a friendly peck on the cheek but one that expressed her full love through her lips without words. Her tongue did a little speaking of it's own as well. That thought made Walter break Edgar's nose; twice. The gym teacher, Mr. Sanderson, had to wrestle Walter away along with the help of the principal and the janitor. Angela, who had never seen the attacks until just then, had run for the office for help. She luckily made it in time. While the school nurse, along with the now arriving paramedics from the local hospital attended to Edgar, Walter's eyes trailed to Angela's left hand and the sparkling engagement ring on her finger. After biting the janitor on the forearm hard enough to draw blood, Mad Dog was sedated and the police were called. Walter Reems was later expelled from school.

Years later, Edgar and his wife Angela had a child. Her name was Estella. Two months after that, he came home from work to his apartment to find both his wife and daughter had been brutally slaughtered. The words "**_Mad Dog Was Here_**" were scrawled on the wall above his bed in Angela's blood. The coroner's report concluded that the deaths were done entirely with someone's bare hands and in some cases, teeth. A large deposit of semen was also found in the vaginal and anal cavities of Estella as well as inside her stomach. Walter Reems was tracked down quickly and arrested. His last moments on Earth were spent on Death Row. His death, however, was not at the hands of the State.

Edgar had moved into his parents' old ranch-style home in the suburbs after the trial. They had left it to him in their will and he had planned to move his family there before everything that had happened. His life had been shattered and he barely felt the need to go on. As the months went by, the pain Edgar felt didn't diminish in the slightest. One hot summer night, while sitting in front of the television in the living room and drinking nothing but water from the kitchen sink, a news report came on. Edgar's tired mind tried to wrap around the words the talking head were spouting. Something about a sickness and the reservoir water being tainted. People were told not to panic but Edgar didn't care. He was already dead in his seat. As the reporter switched to a story on the upcoming execution of Walter Reems, Edgar rose from his chair and shuffled out from his home. The only things on his mind were revenge and what would the Mad Dog's flesh taste like.

At the Raccoon City Maximum Security Penitentiary, Walter was watching the news on the television mounted on the ceiling in the hallway. It seemed like people were starting to go insane and attack others, biting and clawing at them like wild animals. This made Walter hard. The reporter, who looked surprisingly like Angela, had Walter's full attention. Her ruby red lips and dainty pink tongue spilled forth the words that made Walter shiver in sexual ecstasy. Unzipping the fly of his prison issued jeans and unsnapping the button, he arched himself up slightly and slid them off along with his boxers. Sitting back on his cot, he leaned up against the wall all the while watching the reporter and her delicious mouth.

Cupping his balls with his left hand, he rubbed the pad of his thumb over them while wrapping his right around his rigid 4" shaft and started to slide his hand up and down it slowly. All the while, the Angela look-a-like spoke directly to him. Nobody else _but_ him. He could just imagine what it would feel like, having that beautiful and sexy mouth take him inside and lick and suck and…with a muffled grunt Walter came. Panting with exhaustion, he scooped up his juices in his right hand and contemplated them. To think, something so innocuous had got him into so much trouble. As his eyes turned towards the pseudo-Angela, a cruel smirk alit upon his features. "This is for you," he stated while raising his cupped right hand. He then hauled back and flung the goop directly at the screen. The power cut out before the mess splattered against the look-a-likes face.

With a slight screeching of metal on metal, the door of Walter's cell rushed open startling him. "What the fuck?" he gasped. He knew that if there was a power outage, the Emergency reserves would kick in to keep the doors shut. This didn't happen. An insane gleam in his eye, Walter pulled on his wrinkled boxers and jeans while thinking on how to escape. Just because the power was out didn't mean the guards guns didn't work. Shrugging it off, he figured he would come up with something. That one guard, Jenkins, might be nearby. Walter had wanted to introduce him to the Mad Dog for a while now. As he stepped out of his cell, he checked to see that the hallway was completely deserted. All the other cells doors were open like his but all were empty. Walter was the only prisoner scheduled to die.

His court appointed attorney, some smarmy little Jew boy named Ken Rosenberg, had landed him on Death Row. The guy looked like he was trapped in the Eighties or something. What was up with the no sock look anyway? The idiot should have just stayed in Miami or wherever he had been. Heh, he had promised Walter that he would get put away in a mental institution on an insanity plea. Maybe Walter should pay him a visit and introduce Rosenberg to the Mad Dog too. He didn't even realize he had been going anywhere until the gunshot went off.

"Christ! What the _fuck_! Hold your fire asshole!" Walter dove into an empty cell on his left, panting in fear. "Hu-hey, are you alright? You still alive down there?" The whiny voice could only be one person; it was Jenkins. "No thanks to _you_, you stupid _prick_!" Walter shouted back. "What were you thinking!" That tore it, not only was Jenkins going to get to meet the Mad Dog, Walter was going to live up to his last name and go to town on his ass. Literally. The fact that he thought Jenkins had a cute ass didn't really help matters either. "I'm sorry. I thought you were one of…who are you? Hey wait, _back_ off! Nu-no-no. _Noooo_!" Another shot echoed down the hall but the sound of tearing flesh and splashing blood was so much louder.

Walter didn't know what to make of it. Someone had obviously attacked Jenkins but who? It sounded like they were still out there too doing God knew what. Maybe it was like that Angela clone said, someone had gone insane and attacked the guard. That pissed Walter off. Jenkins was supposed to be _his_ bitch. Walter was going to break him and nobody else was allowed to. Hauling himself up from the floor, Walter stormed out of the cell and stalked towards the strange sounds. On the floor ahead were two figures. A nearby flashlight shone on both. The body was obviously Jenkins, his dead eyes pierced through Walter. The other figure was hunched over Jenkins' middle, making some sort of slurping sound while bobbing up and down. This guy was crazier than _he_ was. Killing a guy was one thing, but to suck him off afterwards was just plain sick. Edgar's kid had still been alive when he raped it at least.

"Hey dumb fuck, what do you think you're doing?" Walter then kicked the guy gently in the back to get his attention. He had more than the guy's attention after that. The slurping stopped right away as the figure turned. Looking into those pale orbs, Walter felt his bladder let go. A huge amount of blood was smeared around the guy's mouth and in his hands were Jenkins' intestines with many bites taken out of them. As the freak of nature stood, he let go of the organ which hit the floor with a soft splorp and hissed at Walter. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he recognized Edgar right away. Despite his pale complexion and the gaping gunshot wound in his chest, it was definitely Edgar. "Hey Edgar, h-how are you doing? Nice night, isn't it?" Walter's screams rang out as the Mad Dog was finally put down.

After his lust for revenge had been satiated, Edgar left the prison. Others like him were having their own fun but he didn't care. All he felt like doing was walking. That's what he did. He walked for miles until the back of his head exploded from the gunshot. Genma's Browning Auto was quick and he was quicker as he hobbled out of Kendo's gun shop. Edgar just collapsed to the ground, his blank eyes staring off into the distant stars. To Genma, he was just another nobody; just another face in the crowd. Edgar could have cared less.

* * *

"Okay, refresh my memory. _Why_ exactly did we ditch the truck?" 

With a quiet, exasperated groan that sounded like a stretched out '_Oy_', Grey stopped and turned to Ranma. "We didn't ditch the truck; we left it in a relatively safe place. Take a look around you man. This fog is thicker than my Aunt Bernice's so-called tomato soup and that stuff is _thick_. Besides, if you hadn't checked the road earlier we would probably be dead in that giant sinkhole by the motel or at the very least in major pain. The roads around here aren't safe. Now from what _I_ figure, there's got to be some clue as to how we can get out of this town. We just have to find it." He then turned around again and headed on his way.

"So where exactly are we going?" Rolling his eyes, though Ranma couldn't see, and not stopping in his stride he replied, "Back at the bridge where we found the dead body I found a map next to it. There were a few locations marked on it so it stands to reason that we should check them out. The first is Pete's Bowl-O-Rama, the bowling alley we passed by on the way in. Another is a place called Brookhaven Hospital. Speaking of which, there's the bowling alley now." Walking side by side, Ranma pointed out something up ahead. "So who's the blond in the tight sweater?" Grey's eyes widened slightly in surprise and he let out a small '_Whoa_' as he took in the sight.

'_Sexy as Hell_' was the phrase that jumped into his mind as he gawked at her. The sweater was actually a magenta sweater coat with a plunging neckline, two of the three buttons in front fastened and it exposed quite a bit of midriff, the aforementioned midriff was flat and smooth and it was easy to tell even from some distance that the woman had an innie. Her skirt defied all known laws of physics. By all rights it shouldn't even be able to stay on yet it did. It was a leather wonder, light lavender in color with a leopard-print and hugged her curves like it was painted on yet looked as if one deep breath and everyone would get a free show. A choker made of the same material as the skirt with the same design graced her slender neck from which hung a gold coin charm like the few decorating her gold chain belt, the belt itself appearing to be used in a decorative capacity only. Her boots were made of a black patent leather that ended just below her knees yet enhanced her legs beautifully. She was standing by the entrance, looking bored and seemingly waiting for someone or something. Suddenly, one of the doors slammed open and a little blond girl of indeterminate age ran out and hauled heinie around the corner of the building, the woman quickly following.

"Should we go after them?" Ranma asked. Grey just shook his head and sat on one of the benches by the doors. As Ranma sat next to him, another figure exited the building. This time it was a relatively tall man. He appeared to be in his late twenties, probably twenty-nine exactly. He had 'dirty' blonde hair, pale brown eyes and he wore a haggard expression on his face. His attire consisted of a leather Army green bomber jacket with five patches in random places, one being the U.S. flag above the left top pocket. The shirt was a gray collared button-up number that had seemingly aged well and would last through a few more wash cycles. There was a hint at the collar of another black form-hugging Tee underneath. The blue jeans were well worn like the shirt, possibly Levi's or Wrangler's. The boots were black leather and might have been either in the biker or combat style, possibly even a mix of both.

Spotting the two resting on the bench after quickly looking around, he asked, "Hey, have you two seen a little girl or a woman around here?" Before either could reply the woman returned gasping like she had run a marathon. '_How can she have a hot body like_ that _and still be out of shape?_' Grey thought.

"I…lost her," she puffed out. "She's…faster than she…looks." Straightening up, she then noticed the two new arrivals. '_Wow, two more handsome guys. How lucky can a girl get?_' A friendly and slightly devious smile then made an appearance on her face as she approached the trio. Ranma wondered why he had felt an irrational fear for the contents of his wallet just then. It made absolutely no sense to him at all. Grey just crossed his legs to hide his growing excitement.

After introductions had been made, the group of four headed off to find the young girl Laura. Since they weren't in that much of a hurry, they took a little time to explore as they had passed through the club Heaven's Night. Luckily, there were a few needed items in the club that would definitely come in handy later. At the moment, the four were standing out in front of Brookhaven Hospital.

Out of all of them, Maria was the only one that was unarmed. James had a Smith & Wesson Sigma 9mm; Ranma had a Glock 9mm while Grey wielded a metal pole _James had found it at the Texxon station_ like a bo staff. Grey would have taken the pole out of the car's hood when he was there earlier but he didn't see a need to at the time. He was also pretty good at hand-to-hand but some of these monsters were not something anyone would want to touch, even if it was just to punch them.

Ranma's Glock was a birthday present he received from his family when he turned eighteen. He even gained a license to allow him to carry and discharge any sort of firearm in the contiguous United States. He had been hoping to get a Heckler & Koch USP .45 ACP but was happy with his gift since it came from the heart. The gun that James had was one he had found somewhere in the town.

At the moment, Grey was there but his mind was not. Looking up at the hospital had triggered a painful memory that he was reliving just then. The three noticed something was amiss when they stepped forward to head inside but one of their party didn't move. Ranma turned to his friend to ask what was wrong when he saw the look of anguish on Grey's face. There were even a couple of tears trailing languidly down his cheeks. Suddenly, as if in slow motion, Grey collapsed and just continued staring at the hospitals façade while sitting in the street, his tears continuing unabated.

* * *

"Sorry about all that earlier. I guess it just finally hit me." Grey lifted the Marlboro to his lips for another drag, his right hand shaking slightly. Ranma was sitting next to him on the curb outside the hospital, luckily out of the path of the cigarette smoke. "What was that all about anyway? That expression you had made me think you wanted to curl up and die." He then waved his right hand as an errant plume drifted into his face. 

Blowing smoke through his nostrils, Grey replied in a tired voice. "Years ago, my girlfriend left me. I met her back in junior high and it was like a piece of myself I didn't even know was missing had been found. The two of us were inseparable; you couldn't find one of us without the other. We didn't start dating till high school but that didn't matter. It was painful for both of us when I went to Japan for the student exchange program but we kept in contact. When I came back, it was like I had never left. By the time we were attending college, we were very serious about each other."

"Back then, I didn't know what I wanted my major to be but Lisa knew she wanted to be in the medical field so she started learning how to be a nurse. Around one Christmas, I had given her a pair of jade earrings and a red sweater coat that year. The color of the earrings almost matched her eyes perfectly. What she didn't know was that I was going to give her an engagement ring the next day. As we were in our off-campus apartment, we were relaxing on the couch and I'm getting ready to get down on one knee and propose to her when the phone rings. The person on the other end tells her about this great job opportunity in some town I had never heard of. She had though because it was the one she was born and raised in. It was this town. Lisa and her parents had moved to California a little after she had finished elementary school."

Wiping away a few tears, Grey continued. "She was so elated she was practically glowing. She hung up the phone and then turned to me. I could feel she was nearly gushing with glee as she told me about the offer. I felt like someone had poured Sulphuric Acid down my throat and kicked me in the balls with a steel-toed boot at the same time. By that time, she calmed down enough to realize what the job offer meant. The trip was one-way and she wouldn't be coming back. Also, I couldn't go with her because I had obligations I had to meet there."

"The whole time we spent together that we had left, I never once told her about the ring. A few years later, I got a letter from her that just had once sentence. '_I would have said yes. Love always, Lisa._' What disturbed me were the traces of blood on the letter and the bloody thumbprint by her name. I've been traveling ever since trying to find this town. I guess I lucked out when I met you in Arizona." Taking a final drag, Grey then flicked the butt into the street and exhaled the smoke in his lungs up into the air. Ranma just sat there in stunned silence.

"I'll tell you one thing though," Grey said as he stood up and stretched, "if I ever meet that damn Dahlia Gillespie woman, I swear I'm going to kill her."

* * *

Ada was once again lost. This time, like the last, it was emotionally. Leon, a guy she thought she could have spent the rest of her life with quite happily, was gone. At least, she thought he was. The last she had seen of him had been in the secret underground lab on the bridge where that bitch Annette Birkin shot her in the back. Luckily the bullet had gone through her shoulder but the shock of being shot caused her to stumble and fall over the railing. Leon had grabbed her hand to stop her from plummeting to her demise but she was rapidly losing blood. Her hand then slipped out of his and she fell anyway. 

Once she lost sight of Leon, she slammed back first on top of a huge pipe that could barely hold her weight, especially since she landed on the thing going at a good clip. The top broke open and she was dumped into a rushing wash of ice cold water. The shock of the low temperature cleared her head while the force of the water carried her to who knows where. After what seemed like forever, Ada finally shot out of the end of the pipe into what looked like a man-made lake well outside the city's limits. She had never been so glad in her life that she knew how to swim.

Once she crawled out of the water, she staggered over to the tree line and sat against a pine to catch her breath. She then bent over and ripped a good portion of the bottom of her dress off to use as a makeshift bandage. Hopefully it would stop the bleeding.

Blinking her eyes, she shook her head to clear it and looked around. She was sitting on her bed in the motel she had checked into before heading to Raccoon. Ruining her dress _it had been her favorite_ had been worth it since she was still alive. The memory of what she had gone through not a couple days ago was still fresh in her mind. She hoped that Leon had made it out in time. The automated recording warning of the laboratory's imminent destruction had worried her. The strangest thought that had occurred to her once the warning sounded was that the woman that had made the recording still owed her twenty bucks.

Leon wasn't the only thing on her mind however. While in the Raccoon lab, Ada had found a file describing something called the Nemesis Project. It had described everything that had been done to the "_subject_" to make them what they became. She knew that the Nemesis was a much more advanced version of the Tyrant. A grandfatherly type she had come to trust, a man named Emilio Sharpe, taught her that. Whatever happened to him anyway?

What bothered Ada the most was who they had used to create the Nemesis. It had been years since she had heard the name but seeing it again on that form brought back a flood of memories.

**_Flash_**

_Growing up in __Japan__ in a family full of love._

**_Flash_**

_Being one of three sisters._

**_Flash_**

_Losing her mother to cancer._

**_Flash_**

_Her eldest sister being forced to take over the care of the house since their father was useless due to his own grief._

**_Flash_**

_Being attacked in her own home by men that looked like they would fit in better in a sci-fi movie._

**_Flash_**

_The cries of her sister and the shouts of her father as she was smashed in the face with a rifle butt._

**_Flash_**

_Waking up to the face of a kind-looking_ gaijin _but having no idea who she was._

**_Flash_**

_Growing up under the care of the man who told her to call him Trent._

**_Flash_**

_Training in martial arts of many different schools._

**_Flash_**

_Learning the skills of an assassin._

**_Flash_**

_Her first kill._

**_Flash_**

_Hunched over a toilet and puking her guts out after her first kill._

**_Flash_**

_Learning to steel her heart so she could continue with her chosen path._

**_Flash_**

_Her name, her_ real _name._

**_Flash_**

It took all of her willpower to not break down and cry on the spot once the memory flood ceased. Her own sister Kasumi, Ada discovered, was a member of an elite team and the Umbrella bigwigs were sending a murderous juggernaut after her because they thought her a nuisance. Now she knew what Trent had been talking about. Right now, sitting in that lonely room, Ada would have given almost anything to become blissfully ignorant of what, no, of who the Nemesis really was.

She figured after a good night's sleep, she could think about what to do next. She had to come up with a way to get revenge against her soon-to-be former employers. _Nobody_ messes with Ada Wong. Correction, _nobody_ messes with Nabiki Tendo.

* * *

Dark. That was the first thought that fluttered through his mind. It was dark. Why was it dark? '_You have your eyes closed idiot._' Oh yeah. That would explain it. The next sensation he experienced was a slight pain. His head hurt and he didn't know why. '_Probably when you fell._' That made sense. Now if he only knew who he was. '_Grey._' Things didn't look gray. They were still black but that's because he hadn't opened his eyes yet. '_No, dumbass, your_ name _is Grey._' Oh, so why was he arguing with himself? No answer came after that question. The sound of an air-raid siren died off in the distance. 

A soft burbling replaced the siren just then. It was barely recognizable, like someone trying to gargle and talk at the same time. Turning his head to the left, he realized he was lying down on some sort of backless leather couch. Cracking his eyes open revealed nothing but blurry images. One shape in particular was mostly white and red. Squinting, he tried to force his eyes to focus on this shape. It soon resembled a woman. He could have sworn she was drenched in blood but a blink made it seem like it had been a hallucination. She was garbed in a stark white nurse's uniform, one of those paper hats with a red cross on her head. Her light brown hair was long and lustrous, framing a face of exquisite beauty. A pair of jade earrings dangled from her pretty ears. On her face, she wore a look of surprise. "Grey?" she asked him. Confusion grew on his own face as he questioned her back, "Lisa?"

* * *

Author's Notes: 

Yes, it's Lisa alright. You can probably guess by now where Grey and Ranma are. I'm sorry to all my readers that I took this long to release this chapter. It just didn't feel right and I wanted to flesh it out some. I suck when it comes to writing more than a few pages. The characters used in the Edgar Day sequence, except for the brief appearance of Genma and the mention of Ken Rosenberg, all belong to me. I find it odd that any characters I create, I usually kill off right off the bat. Either that or in the case of Naomi Greene, they're already dead. Grey Wulfe, however isn't dead and won't die any time soon. He's also my creation. I actually created him when I got the Vacation expansion pack for Sims 1. He's gone through some changes since then.

After this chapter, I'm not sure where I'm going to take this story. I'm not abandoning it or anything. I'm just confused on what to do next. I guess I made a liar out of myself when I said I would explain Kasumi's reaction to Ryoga's curse. I really couldn't come up with one. If I _did_ own the characters I don't currently own, them and all the ancillary rights I'd be a rich man. Too bad I don't. Nuts. Anywho, that's it for this chapter. I don't know when the next one will come out. We'll just wait and see. As always, remember my motto, "My fic, my rules." See you in the funny papers.


End file.
